THe HIDOeN 
OF -RASMOLA 



Abraham MitrielRihbany 




^^^&^^^^ 




{)m^M'-J-9AA^ 



COPYRIGHT BEPOSm 



THE HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 




At the close of that day Abu-Nasif, Ahu-Rostum, and I found 
ourselves standing around the hole (page 66) 






THE 

HIDDEN TREASURE 
S/^ RASMOLA- 

^^AbrahamMitrie Rihbanx^ 




HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
BOSTON AND N6W yORK— TH6 

rnvGRsme pRess-cAMSRiDce 






COPYRIGHT, I9I4, BY THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY COMPANY 
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY ABRAHAM MITRIE RIHBANY 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



/.7 3 



©CU601263 



TO 
MARGUERITE AND EDWARD 



PREFACE 

A FEW years ago I published in the Atlantic 
Monthly an account of this adventure. The hmi- 
tation of space in the magazine made necessary 
the omission of many details, which have been 
added to that account in the story as now told. 
As was mentioned in the Atlantic at the time, 
this is a true story and a personal experience of 
mine. So far as memory can be trusted, I have 
recorded the events which attended the digging 
for the treasure substantially as they occurred. 
My telling and retelling*f this story for so many 
years before its publication kept it as fresh in my 
memory as if its scenes had been enacted but a 
short time ago. 

The character of this adventure made it pos- 
sible for me to introduce my readers to such 
regions of Oriental psychology and life as I had 
no occasion to traverse in my former books, and 
[ vii] 



PREFACE 

which in reality constitute the essential value of 
the present publication. The scenes here por- 
trayed are not only real phases of the life of the 
common people of Syria, among whom I was 
born and brought up, but were in one way or 
another actually connected with our activities in 
the secret and dread enterprise. They have been 
reproduced in this work with only such dramati- 
zation as every writer knows is necessary to raise 
such a piece of literature, as far as possible, from 
the sphere of mere photography. 

I have deemed it necessary also to give its 
participants, excepting Faris, other than the 
names given in the earlier account. 

Finally, I offer this story to the reading public 
as the fullest known commentary on the parable 
of the "treasure hid in a field" (Matt. 13:44), 
and I ardently hope that our life-quest may be 
the wealth recommended in that parable, and 
not mere silver and gold. AMR 

Boston, Massachicsetts. 

[ viii ] 



CONTENTS 




I. The Messenger 


1 


II. Abu-Rostum and I 


28 


III. The Round Hole in the Rock 


50 


IV. Taking Counsel Together 


69 


V. Selim and the Mysterious Man 


78 


VI. The Dark Cave 


96 


VII. The Great Mughreby 


110 


VIII. The Potion 


148 


IX. Faris and the Treasure 


160 



The frontispiece and decorations are from dravnngs 
by Stanley Rogers 




THE HIDDEN TREASURE 
OF RASMOLA 



CHAPTER I 
THE MESSENGER 
I DO not remember whose Saint it was, but it was 
one of our Greek Orthodox Church hohdays 
when Abu-Nasif's messenger arrived at our 
house. His coming was unexpected, but not en- 
tirely unsuspected. A short time before this man, 
whose mission ultimately meant so much to me, 
[ 1 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

had stood at our door, a cousin of mine, who was 
just convalescing from an every -third-day fever, 
had said that his right ear was "ringing" vio- 
lently. It rang, he stated apprehensively, three 
times at short and equal intervals. 

''Kheir in sha' Allah" (that is, may it be good 
by the will of God), said my paternal grand- 
mother; "some stranger is coming to this house 
to-day." 

" Were those rings in your ears sharp and dis- 
tinct.f^" she thoughtfully inquired of my cousin, 
"or such hissings as fever usually makes?" 

"Sharp and clear," answered Ferid, "like the 
ringing of a little bell." Apparently fearing to 
have suspicion cast upon the prophetic signifi- 
cance of the music of his right ear, Ferid added 
with a rigid gesture of his index finger, "It is 
like I used to hear before I had the fever; that 
is, like what happens before a strange visitor 
appears." 

[2 ] 



THE MESSENGER 

At this juncture our aged and good neighbor 
and friend, Yusuf, who was a never-faihng visi- 
tor at our house on hoHdays, when cakes and 
confections and wine were much in evidence, 
contributed his Daniehc interpretation of the 
mysterious actions of Ferid's right ear. His vol- 
untary contribution was not new, but it was 
very timely. 

"Ferid, my son," said Yusuf tenderly, and 
after a rather superficial but urgently necessary 
clearing of his throat, "this kind of ear-ringing 
is a sure sign that a stranger is about to come 
and bring important tidings. But in all my long 
life I have never known such tidings — do you 
hear me, my beloved .^^ — I never knew such tid- 
ings to be bad unless a crow should fly over the 
house and neighborhood at about the time the 
ear rings." 

"That is very truth," said my grandmother 
with great relief and satisfaction; "the accursed 
[3] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

crow always brings sad reports; that is why he is 
condemned to be black always. That is why he 
never returned to Noah's Ark, while the dove 
did." 

**Haik, haik'' (so, so), said Yusuf; "the crow 
is an evil bird. Not only his color, but his voice 
also shows that God has cursed him. I remember 
that ill-omened day when our most valiant man, 
the hero, the great fighter, Ibrahim Saad, was 
killed while on his way to Damascus." 

"He was coming back from Damascus," said 
Yusuf's wife by way of benevolently assisting 
the memory of her aged husband. "He was com- 
ing back with two muleteers and a sheep mer- 
chant when a band of highwaymen came upon 
them and — woe to us! — killed Ibrahim, after 
he had felled two of them." 

" What is the difference between going to Da- 
mascus and coming back from Damascus.f^" in- 
quired Yusuf, with a slight rise of temperature 
[4 1 



THE MESSENGER 

in his temper. "Ibrahim was killed on that evil 
day; and the next day, shortly before the terrible 
news reached this town, early in the morning, I 
saw an accursed crow flying right over Ibrahim's 
house, and crying, Ghak, ghak! May God curse 
the black things!" concluded Yusuf as he thrice 
crossed himself in self-defense against all evil 
influences. 

Here my mother, whose humor often freed 
her from subjection to such mysterious forebod- 
ings, and who felt that a holiday was not the 
most fitting time for extended necrological remi- 
niscences, came to the rescue. 

"Has any one seen a crow?" she inquired. 
"Leah," she asked Yusuf 's wife, with a sup- 
pressed laugh, "have you seen anything?" 

"Not a thing, thank God," answered the good 
matron. 

"Have a fried cake, Yusuf," spoke again my 
mother, " and we will watch for a crow. Get him 
[5 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

a glass of wine," she said to me; "he is a good 
prophet." 

"You are always light-hearted," said my grand- 
mother to her daughter-in-law, as she checked 
momentarily the whirling of her spindle, which 
knew no holiday rest. "I hope to God that no 
black thing will appear in the sky." 

No black thing appeared, but Asaad, Abu- 
Nasif's messenger from Rasmola, did. Quite un- 
designedly, Asaad arrived shortly before the 
noon meal. 

"O good dwellers of this house! " called Asaad 
as he reached our open door, which call is the 
equivalent of ringing the doorbell in the mechan- 
ical Western world. 

''Ahlan wa sahlan'* (most welcome), answered 
my father, as he stood up to meet the stranger. 
"Be good enough and come in." 

Removing his shoes from his feet, just outside 
the threshold, and resting his staff against the 
[61 



THE MESSENGER 

doorpost, Asaad walked in with profuse salaams 
and prolonged and solicitous inquiries about the 
health and happiness of our family. 

"In the keeping of God, we are all well," an- 
swered my father. "It is a blessing to have you 
under our roof; your presence makes our holiday 
doubly sacred and thrice happy." 

The messenger sought to sit in a lowly place 
near the door, whereupon my father took him 
by the arm and said, "No, that is impossible; 
come up higher," and led him to a place near 
him on the red soft cushion. Apparently Abu- 
Nasif 's messenger was a well-bred Syrian, one of 
those respectable common people of whom God 
has made so many. After a brief but very polite 
remonstrance that the place offered him was 
above his deserts, he came "up higher" with 
dignified freedom and sat erect next to my father, 
with his legs folded under him and his palms 
resting upon his knees. 

[7] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

"What is your precious name?" asked my 
father. 

"The name of your humble servant," replied 
the messenger, "is Asaad ben Mansur, of the 
town of Rasmola." 

"Wa na'm!'' (all honor!) exclaimed my father. 

"I have come to your hospitable abode from 
Abu-Nasif Haddad, a kinsman of mine, and a 
very respectable householder of our town, with 
a message pertaining to an important business. 
Abu-Nasif's business is — " 

"I beg you," interrupted my father, "let no 
business at this moment intrude upon our pleas- 
ure in your visit. This is a holiday and our dinner 
is about ready. Let us drink together a glass of 
wine in honor of the day and of your presence, 
and after that we will hear of your mission." 

"No, no," protested Asaad; "I well know that 
your hospitality is boundless and known to all 
men. But, by the sacredness of this holy day, I 
[8] 



THE MESSENGER 

am in no need of food, nor have I come to test 
your generosity which is well proved. But an 
hour ago I rested myself at the fountain near the 
junction of the footpath and the mule road and 
there ate my sacZ" (food for the way). "There- 
fore permit me, I pray you, to make my mission 
known and to return speedily in order that I may 
reach Rasmola before the falling of the darkness.'* 
; All this was very polite, but it was not true. 
In every country a certain measure of social ly- 
ing and polite and harmless hypocrisy, which the 
etiquette of certain occasions calls for, are 
deemed excusable. In Syria such social graces 
attain a more luxurious growth than they do in 
America, and so long as the game is known to all 
it really matters little how much a person may 
deem it necessary, for the sake of politeness, to 
depart from the truth and cleave to its opposite. 
We were still in the dry season during which 
the common people of Syria do their cooking out 
[9] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

of doors. Our summer cooking-place was close by 
the north side of the house and near the foot of 
the rough stone steps which led to the housetop. 
A small door at that end of the house facilitated 
the communications between the "storeroom" 
{mahhzen) and the open-air cooking-place. Our 
house consisted of two rooms, the storeroom and 
the large living-room, which served also as bed- 
room and dining-room. At the time the messenger 
arrived, the savory odors of the cooking floating 
into the house gave the welcome indication that 
our holiday dinner was about ready, and awak- 
ened certain feelings which, I have every reason 
to believe, made even our politely prevaricating 
guest feel that any discussion of business would 
under the circumstances be an exasperating 
impertinence. 

At the beckoning of my beloved mother, I 
went into the storeroom and brought out the 
large, round dining-table and placed it near 
[ 10 1 



THE MESSENGER 

where my father and Asaad were sitting. The 
table was made by our town carpenter, of ordi- 
nary pine boards, planed and nicely fitted to- 
gether, and was about eighteen inches in height. 
As a rule the common people of Syria use neither 
table covers nor napkins nor knives and forks. 
In case of liquid food, spoons are used; otherwise 
the food is lifted into the mouth with small 
"shreds" of thin bread. So my task in "setting 
the table" was very easy. I simply brought it 
from the storeroom and set it on the floor of the 
living-room. Also out of the large jar of our 
home-made wine, I filled a small gourd holding 
about two quarts, and placed it with our drink- 
ing-glass next to my father, who was of course 
the master of the feast. 

Our dinner consisted of two principal dishes 

highly esteemed by the Syrian people, Idhhy and 

malishy. Kibhy consists of lean meat and of 

crushed wheat (which is previously boiled and 

I 11 ], 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

thoroughly dried in the sun) beaten together 
into a pulp in a stone mortar, properly seasoned, 
and either eaten raw (I beg the pardon of bac- 
teriologists) or made into cakes and broiled. 
Mahshy consists of small summer squash, about 
the size of bananas, which are hollowed into thin 
shells and stuffed with rice mixed with an equal 
quantity of finely cut mutton, seasoned accord- 
ing to taste, and boiled with tomatoes. And 
while dessert is never regularly served with meals 
in Syria, on this occasion my mother had made 
for us a dish of wheat-starch blanc-mange liber- 
ally sprinkled over with delicious pine nuts. A 
large number of thin loaves of Syrian bread, 
folded once and placed under the table, com- 
pleted the elements of the feast, and we en- 
circled the festal board, sitting on the floor with 
our legs folded under us. 

Again for good manners' sake, our guest re- 
peated his dinner-at-the-f ountain story, and that 
[ 12] 



THE MESSENGER 

he was really unable to eat. However, the over- 
whelming entreaties of our whole family spoken 
in a chorus, and no doubt an inward necessity, 
accentuated by the sight of what was before him 
on the table, quickly silenced his feigned pro- 
tests. He moved himself into proper range and 
began to eat with us with polite avidity. At 
proper intervals my father poured the wine and 
also as a generous host urged our guest to eat by 
remarking to him that he was not really eating 
as well as we were. My mother also apologized a 
few times for the scantiness of the dinner we had 
been able to put before him and begged his 
pardon. Our guest, however, knew what he was 
doing, and met the poHte remarks with ones of 
a similar character. 

When it became perfectly convenient to do so, 

Asaad drew himself back from the table, made 

the sign of the cross as he thanked God, wiped 

his luxurious black mustache with the thumb 

[ 13] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

elevation of his palm, and said, as he turned his 
head first to my father, then to my mother: 

"May God perpetuate your hospitable home; 
may we eat again at this table at the marriage 
feast of your dear son [meaning me]. I have had 
a great abundance." 

No amount of urging would make Asaad eat 
more. 

The table having been removed, I placed be- 
fore our guest the tobacco plate and package of 
cigarette-paper, and passed the cups of Turkish 
coffee. 

"Now, master," spoke Asaad to my father, 
"I will first present to you Abu-Nasif's letter 
and then will speak further of my mission." 
* Abu-Nasif's letter was folded in the form of a 
triangle and sealed with a bit of bread moistened 
in the mouth of the man who sealed it. I was 
the only member of our family at that time who 
could read and write, although my accompHsh- 
[ 14] 



THE MESSENGER 

ments in that line were not of classical dignity. 
I always dreaded being asked to read a letter, 
and much more to answer one. My father took 
the letter from the messenger's hand, and after 
expressing his deep regret, as he always did on 
such occasions, that he never had the privilege 
of learning how to read, he handed the letter to 
me and asked me to read it " slowly and clearly." 
To read slowly was no trouble at all for me, 
but to read clearly was an entirely different mat- 
ter. In this case, however, with Asaad's prompt- 
ings, who, although himself an illiterate, seemed 
to know much of the contents of the letter by 
heart, I succeeded in making out "clearly" what 
the important message meant. 

Translation often robs a document of much 
of its original charms. All I can say here is that 
I have spared no effort to reproduce, in this 
strange English tongue, and in an environment 
not entirely conducive to the production of such 
[15] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

literature, the Oriental poetical and spiritual 
charms of Abu-Nasif 's letter to my father. 
Here is the letter: 

"From Rasmola, in September 2, Western Cal- 
endar ^ 

" [Sent] To the presence of the highly honored 
(muhtarem) Mitrie Rihbany; may his life be pro- 
longed. 

"First we present you with our high esteem 
and greatest regard, and ask of the bounty of the 
eternal God the preservation of your own pre- 
cious life and the lives of all those within your 
home, the which may God perpetuate. We ask 
also of the Highest to compass you about by 
his many and rich gifts and guarantee to you 
the safety of your beloved offspring and bless 

^ Abu-Nasif was an adherent of the Western Church, therefore 
used the Western calendar. We were of the Eastern, or Greek 
Orthodox Church, and went by the Eastern calendar which ran 
then twelve days behind the Western calendar. The difference 
now is thirteen days. 

[16] 



THE MESSENGER 

them with the blessings of perfect health and 
strength. We implore also the High God to pros- 
per you in all your undertakings and greatly to 
multiply to you the fruits of the labors of your 
hands. 

"If you condescend to ask about us, we will 
say that by the grace of the Highest we are en- 
joying the blessing of perfect health and vigor. 
Our dear ones and all those within our home are 
by His grace well and happy. The only thing we 
lack, and the loss of which we keenly feel, is the 
sight of your bright countenance. 

"After all this (amma bad) we petition you to 
know that we are fully aware of your far-famed 
genius and ability as a master-builder, which are 
sung even by wayfarers everywhere, and that 
you are sought from far and near by all those 
who would have houses firmly and elegantly 
built. The High God has endowed you with wis- 
dom and thus enabled you to build on sure 
[17] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

foundations. So we thank him abundantly for 
his gifts which are for the benefit of man. 

"The first intention of your humble corre- 
spondent was to seek you in person and gladden 
our eyes by seeing you face to face. But to our 
great misfortune we have not been permitted to 
have that gladness (surour). Therefore we are 
sending to your honored presence our messenger 
and kinsman, the carrier of this our letter. Our 
purpose in this communication is to state to 
your respected person that by the will and help 
of God, we intend to build a house according to 
our requirement and our means. So if He will 
permit us, we wish to have the house completed 
before the occurrence of the winter season. 

" Our deepest desire is to secure your eminent 
ability to construct the house for us according to 
your skill and wisdom which are known to all 
men. Other .builders are numerous, but we are 
seeking the master of them all. The sea is far 
[18] 



THE MESSENGER 

greater than all the creeks. Should you' desire 
more information our messenger and kinsman, 
the carrier of these words, will supply the same 
by word of mouth. However, with your exceed- 
ing understanding, we are confident that no 
further explanation will be needed. We implore 
the High God again to move your heart and 
cause you to send us the joy-giving word of your 
consent to be the builder of our house, which we 
should consider of the richest gifts of life. 

"Finally all our family and those about us 
join in repeating to you our abundant greetings 
and the petition to Him on High to guard and 
preserve you and your precious family, and 
greatly prolong your days. 

"Your petitioner (da'aiJcum) 

"Abu-Nasif Haddad" 

During the reading of the letter, Asaad's face 
beamed continually. I thought his admiring 
[ 19 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

smiles were for me, but they were not. When I 
finished reading, he turned to my father and 
said, "This beauteous (jameel) letter was written 
last night by Abu-Nasif's , nephew, who is a 
student in a school in Beiriit. He is a marvel 
with the pen, and his face is as bright as the full 
moon. The house was full of people and many of 
them dictated sentences, but the young man put 
it all in becoming order." Then turning to me 
compassionately he added, "I have no doubt 
that if you went to school, you could write such 
a letter too; may God prosper your growth." 

"I have nothing but profound gratitude for 
Abu-Nasif 's good words," said my father to Asaad. 
" We are known to one another, and I wish so 
much that I could respond to his call in person, 
but I have so many jobs on my hands already." 

*'By the Saint of this holiday," exclaimed 
Asaad, "don't say that! I must take you with 
me. I will carry you on my back." 
[20 1 



THE MESSENGER 

The means of transportation Asaad offered my 
father did not prove compelling enough to alter 
the issue. It was impossible for him to undertake 
the task in person. 

"Would Abu-Nasif accept other men I might 
send to him if I guaranteed their fitness for the 
purpose?" asked my father. 

"To tell you the truth," answered Asaad, "he 
would as a last resort, but he told me to insist 
and insist upon securing you yourself." 

"You need have no fear," said my father, 
smiling and pressing Asaad*s hand; "I will send 
two competent masons, my son and a cousin of 
mine whom I expect to arrive in two or three 
days. By the way, where does Abu-Nasif expect 
to build? I am familiar with Rasmola." 

"At the southern edge of the town," was the 
answer, "near the Convent of Saint Elias. Abu- 
Nasif owns a vineyard there. It is a lonely place, 
but he is fond of it." 

[21 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

"It is lonely there." 

"Yes; and last spring a ghost was seen in the 
locality, but my kinsman wants to live on that 
parcel of ground. There are traces of old build- 
ings there, buildings of ancient days, and nobody 
knows what there is underground." 

The "ghost" and the mysterious possibili- 
ties "underground" greatly excited my curios- 
ity. Yet little did I dream at that moment of the 
most strange experiences which that building job 
at Rasmola held in store for me. I only wished, 
and wished very ardently, that my father would 
carry out his plans and put me in charge of the 
proposed enterprise. 

"Did you say," inquired my grandmother 
with some apprehension, "that there was a 
ghost where you are going to build .f*" 

" One was seen there last spring," replied Asaad. 
"Some people going by in the night saw one sit- 
ting on the rock, but it did not harm any of them." 
[ 22 ] 



THE MESSENGER 

"My misery!" exclaimed my grandmother; 
"how are we going to send our son to where the 
djinniat [female djinn] are? May God curse them, 
they will bewitch his mind ! He is the dearest of 
the dear, and we don't want to expose him to 
such things, building or no building.'* 

" Asaad only heard that," said my father with 
perfect calmness. "It may have been only fancy. 
I have worked in hundreds of places, some of 
them very lonely, and I never was attacked by 
a ghost." 

"But are we sure that our boy will be safe?" 
asked the good woman again. 

Here Asaad appeared to suffer from remorse 
for having mentioned the ghost. The voluntary 
statement concerning the dread spirit threatened 
to upset all our plans. He felt that he was in 
danger of returning to Rasmola empty-handed, 
all because he had made an uncalled-for state- 
ment. 

[23 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

"Good mother," he said, "you know how 
people talk about ghosts — God curse them ! 
I never saw a ghost there myself, and I have vis- 
ited that place many times during the fig season. 
With regard to the safety of the young man, let 
me say that our whole clan will guarantee it. 
We will give our lives before we will allow his 
small finger to be hurt. My kinsman, Abu-Nasif , 
is the bravest man in our town. He fought the 
Druses in the year '60, and still keeps his old 
gun hanging upon the wall. He is so fond of it 
that he changed it some time ago from 'flint' to 
*cap'; he is ready for any danger, human or 
djinn. Be sure, good mother, be sure of the safety 
of the youth." 

Asaad's outburst drowned the original issue 
and made my grandmother feel that the strength 
of the hills was on our side. 

"Get a piece of paper," said my father to me, 
" and let us write an answer to Abu-Nasif 's letter.'* 
[24 1 



THE MESSENGER 

The request gave me deep concern. It almost 
spoiled the hohday for me. I had been hoping all 
the time that dread task would not fall to me. 
"How," I thought, "am I going to be able to 
answer such a long and learned letter, especially 
in the presence of the messenger?" 

"We have n't any paper, father," I answered. 

"Look on the shelf next to the pillows," said 
my father. "I put a sheet there some time ago." 

I got up and did my best not to find any 
paper. 

"There is n't any, father, and the ink-well is 
dry," I said with a downcast countenance. 

"Go, then," commanded father again, "to 
Yusuf 's house and borrow half a sheet. The other 
day, when he wanted to sell his olive-trees in the 
lowlands, he bought a double sheet for the deed, 
but the sale was not made, and he still has the 
sheet. Go and borrow half of it." 
^ " Oh, I don't like to go and borrow paper from 
I 25 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

Yusuf," I replied with still deeper dejection. 
"Do we have to send a written answer?" 

"Not at all!" spoke Asaad, "no, not at all, 
master. Abu-Nasif told me that a word from 
your lips to me that you would accept the job 
would be all-suflBcient. I beg you trouble the dear 
son no more with this matter. Besides, I must be 
going as soon as possible." 

"Dear Asaad!" I said to myself, "may you 
live as long as Jared." 

"There is nothing more, then, that needs to 
be said at present," added my father. "I hope 
in a week or ten days to send the men to Abu- 
Nasif, and I have no doubt that they will build 
the house for him properly and before the occur- 
ring of the winter season." 

Asaad would not accept our invitation to stay 
overnight at our house. So my mother, overcom- 
ing his polite remonstrances, wrapped up in his 
red bandana a few loaves of bread, containing 
[26] 



THE MESSENGER 

some of the food left from our dinner, for his zad. 
He tied the bandana around his waist, with the 
zad resting on his back, put on his shoes, grasped 
his staff, and after profusely thanking us for 
our hospitality and wishing us a thousand good 
things, set out on his return journey to E,as- 
mola. 




CHAPTER II 
ABU-ROSTUM AND I 

Abu-Nasif's poetical praise and extolment in 
his letter of my father's "far-famed genius and 
ability" as a master-mason was not so far out of 
the way. As a contractor and builder my father 
carried on a large business for many years. 
At the height of his prosperity, he employed 
from thirty to fifty men, and as a builder he was 
sought from far and near. From our home town, 
which is situated on the western slopes of Mount 
[ 28 ] 



ABU-ROSTUM AND I 

Lebanon, Syria, in the province which bears the 
name of that historic mountain, our building en- 
terprises radiated for m^ny miles around. Not 
being able to give personal attention to all of the 
many applications which came to him, my father 
often placed me in charge of less extensive under- 
takings, such as the erection of ordinary dwell- 
ings, which, in so poor a country as the interior 
of Syria, involved no complicated architectural 
designs. In fact, in that part of the world we had 
never even heard of an architect in connection 
with our trade. The stone-mason exercised the 
functions of architect, builder, and inspector. 

My own industrial career was an exception- 
ally fortunate one. Wlien at the age of nine I was 
taken out of a little missionary school and "put 
to work," my father's men received me as a priv- 
ileged character. The master-masons under my 
father gave me every encouragement to learn the 
trade. At the early age of fourteen I was allowed 
[29 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

to "mount the wall" — to do actual building — 
and at the age of sixteen I was classed and paid 
wages as a "master." I was second in command 
over the men, after my father, and for that rea- 
son they accorded me the respect which my years 
did not really merit. In such exceptional circum- 
stances, I learned not only to work at my trade, 
but also to be a good business manager. I was 
very thorough, very conscientious in my work, 
and was, therefore, in great demand. These being 
the circumstances, my father had no hesitancy 
whatever in placing me in charge of such enter- 
prises as the one Abu-Nasif 's letter described. 

I was very pleasantly curious to know our kins- 
man, Abu-Rostum, whom my father had been 
expecting, and who was to share with me the 
responsibilities of the Rasmola business venture. 
I had never met him before, but had heard of 
him as being a man who, while he had never dis- 
tinguished himself as a stone-mason, was accom- 
[30 1 



ABU-ROSTUM AND I 

plished in other ways. He was good at soap- 
making. He was a church "reader," and chanted 
at the Mass charmingly. He was, I had been 
told, well versed in the Psalms and knew many 
of the magical mysteries which the Psalms were 
supposed to contain. And not the least of his 
merits were his fighting qualities, which he had 
always turned to good account in our clannish 
fights. His last two qualifications — namely, his 
intimate knowledge of the mysteries of the 
Psalms and his fighting power — appealed to me 
most powerfully. 

With regard to his soap-making, my senti- 
ments^were neutral. I did not care much for soap 
in those days. 

Abu-Rostum arrived at our house at about the 
time he had been expected. He had come to my 
father looking for work. I was much pleased with 
his coming because I was anxious to proceed as 
soon as possible to Rasmola and explore the 
[31 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

mysterious region of which Abu-Nasif's mes- 
senger spoke to my father. 

Our kinsman proved to be shorter of stature 
than I had visuaHzed to myself, and therefore 
much less imposing than I had expected to find 
him. His trunk was well knit together and rather 
long, but his legs were disappointingly short, and 
conveyed the impression that they came into 
being as an after-thought of Mother Nature's. 
He had a good face, and, in spite of his small size 
and the peculiar mechanics of his lower extremi- 
ties, was endowed with a creditable measure of 
strength. He smoked almost continuously, and I 
am led to believe that because of that his breath- 
ing was wheezy; at times it resembled the sound 
of sucking soda-water through a cracked straw. 
He had a fine voice and an animated presence, 
and was sociable and generous. Although he was 
not very felicitous in his speech, yet his qualifica- 
tions as a talker exceeded his qualifications as a 
[ 32 ] 



ABU-ROSTUM AND I 

listener. When listening to a conversation he 
appeared to be struggling inwardly to prepare 
an answer, rather than to be interestedly and 
respectfully absorbed in what was being ad- 
dressed to him. Nevertheless, I liked Abu- 
Rostum. He was not the only human whose pos- 
sibilities, both physical and spiritual, had been 
only partially realized. 

My father and I informed Abu-Rostum of the 
prospective job at Rasmola, and he seemed to be 
much pleased with the fact that such a good job 
had been waiting for him. My father's instruc- 
tions to us were of a general character. Two facts 
he was especially desirous that we should keep in 
mind. First, not to allow Abu-Nasif to plan a 
building larger than he could ultimately pay for, 
and, second, in case we made a contract with our 
employer, to guarantee the building for one year 
from the time of its completion, "excepting in 
case of a landslide and thunderbolts." It was also 
[33] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

understood that, although Abu-Rostum was 
about double my age (I was then about seven- 
teen), the work was to be in my charge. 

Having previously sent word, and such of our 
tools as we could not carry ourselves, with the 
muleteers to Abu-Nasif, Abu-Rostum and I 
started for Rasmola. It was on a bright and 
warm Sunday afternoon, shortly past the middle 
of September. 

*'I am so happy to find you such a fine and 
valiant young man," said Abu-Rostum to me as 
we, with our loins girded and our staves in our 
hands, followed the rocky road on our three 
hours' journey to Rasmola. "I knew you as a 
little child; but your parents moved from our 
home town when you were about six, and since 
that time, until a few days ago, I have never 
visited your family." 

"I have been told," I answered, "that you 
were present at my baptism." 
[34 ] 



ABU-ROSTUM AND I 

"Yes, and about half our clan was at your 
father's house on that day and we had a great 
feast. Wine ran like water on that day. I was just 
beginning to be a reader at the Mass, and I in- 
toned certain sacred passages at your baptism. 
Ah, how the years pass!" 

"You must know all about the Psalms and 
their mysteries." 

"No, not all. No man can know all the mys- 
teries of the Psalms. It may be Solomon did, be- 
cause he could talk to all the animals on the earth 
and could make the djinn do his bidding. But I 
know a great deal about the Psalms of David — 
as much as a weak and sinful man like myself 
can know. And although I know many worldly 
songs, my chief joy when traveling alone is to 
chant Psalms, especially, * Bless the Lord, O my 
soul, and all that is within me bless His holy 
name.' The reverential mention of 'His holy 
name' drives away all evil spirits." 
[35 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

This fact was not new to me. I had known it 
from infancy. My father often chanted that 
Psalm also when we traveled in the night. How- 
ever, I was very curious to know more definitely 
Abu-Rostum's view of ghosts, so I said to him: 

"Abu-Nasif's messenger told us the other day 
that some time ago a ghost appeared where we 
are going to build the house for his kinsman. 
What should we do if the mysterious thing 
attacked us?" 

"It depends," answered Abu-Rostum, "on the 
kind of ghost. If it is angelic, we have nothing 
to fear, but if it is satanic, we should have to 
wrestle with it by the power of the Psalms. But," 
he added, "satanic ghosts do not appear in the 
daytime, and in the night we shall not be in that 
locality. The place must be 'inhabited.'" (The 
Syrians use the word "inhabited," mascoon, for 
"haunted," on the theory that the spirit dwells 
in a place, or a person.) 

[36] 



ABU-ROSTUM AND I 

" I have traveled far," continued Abu-Rostum, 
"and seen all sorts of men and magicians. The 
most powerful magic comes from the Bible. It is 
magic, however, which must be used for good 
and not evil. Its purpose is to conquer, and not 
to make alliance with, Satan. So in this sense it is 
divine wisdom. Solomon knew all about it." 

At this point the seam of Abu-Rostum's ciga- 
rette opened, and he stopped meditatively to 
rejoin it by moistem'ng it with the tip of his 
tongue on the right side of his mouth, with his 
right eye discreetly closed against the pungent 
smoke of the home-grown, half-cured tobacco. 
Presently a black snake, apparently encouraged 
by our silence and ignorant of my companion's 
magical powers, came winding its way across an 
open space in front of us. Instantly Abu-Rostum 
fixed his eyes upon the reptile and began to re- 
peat inaudibly certain mysterious words. See- 
ing us, the snake hesitated a moment, whereupon, 
[37 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

and most foolishly, I said, "It stops; let us kill 
it!" The snake resumed its course more expedi- 
tiously than before and quickly disappeared on 
the opposite side of the road. 

Abu-Rostum looked sadly disappointed. " Why 
did you speak?" he asked me. "You broke the 
spell. K you had remained silent the snake 
would have stood motionless by the power of the 
formula I was repeating. Your words weakened 
its power and released the snake." 

My ignorance of the potency of my own words 
and their power to so dilute the essence of even 
divine magic formed my excuse. 

"Tell me," I begged Abu-Rostum, "what you 
were saying." 

"No!" he answered with solemn definiteness; 
"I am not allowed to do so. You are too young 
for such things, or, I should say, not trained for 
them. Sometime you may know." 

In all other matters, however, and in spite of 
[38 ] 



ABU-ROSTUM AND I 

my neutralizing his magical formula by talking 
so thoughtlessly about the snake, Abu-Rostum 
remained pleasantly communicative, as well as a 
cordial listener to accounts of my youthful 
dreams and ambitions. His chanting of Psalms 
and other sacred poetry, with a liberal inclusion 
of worldly songs, gave the rugged charms of our 
surroundings a touch of sweet humanity. 

Our road lay on the eastern declivity of the 
first chain of rock-bound hills which form the 
western slopes of Mount Lebanon and extend 
the base of that scriptural "pinnacle of the 
earth" to within a few miles of the blue waters 
of the Mediterranean. Immense cliffs of solid 
rock towered above us on either side of a vast 
gorge which yawns between the main elevation 
of the mountain and those less lofty terrestrial 
swells. Little villages, with their flat earthen 
roofs covered with the drying fruits and vege- 
tables of the late summer season, nestled on 
[39] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

either side of a tortuous stream in the more fer- 
tile regions of the romantic valley below us. The 
shadows of the declining day had begun to soften 
the sharp, ragged outlines of the rocks and to fill 
the wide gulf with majestic gloom. Their flowing 
tide, so full of mystery, was rolling toward the 
bold summits the golden mantle cast upon the 
mountain heights by the receding sun. The vesper 
bells from lonely convents, perched on conse- 
crated hilltops, were answering one another 
across the mighty chasm. The flocks had begun 
their reluctant homeward march from the brown 
late-summer pastures, with the shepherds watch- 
ing and coaxing the stragglers into a quicker 
pace. The softening light of day rendering more 
mystical every moment the outlines of the sur- 
rounding heights conduced to more vx)calizing of 
Psalms on Abu-Rostum's part which continued, 
with brief pauses now and then to mend a ciga- 
rette, or roll a new one, or to give an enlighten- 
[40] 



ABU-ROSTUM AND I 

ing comment on what was being sung, until we 
reached the immediate environs of Rasmola. 

We entered the town at about sunset. Not a 
few of the women were still on their way from 
the evening "filling" of their water- jars from the 
clear and copious fountains of Rasmola. To us 
the sight of jilled jars carried on women's shoul- 
ders was a good omen. An empty jar meant a 
bad fortune — emptiness. The welcome odors of 
the outdoor summer cooking at that evening 
hour floated upon the air and benevolently neu- 
tralized the other odors of the narrow and dusty 
footpaths of the town. Mothers were nursing 
their children on the doorsteps and by the boiling 
pots. The few wine-shops were still vocal with the 
hilarity of Sunday afternoon revelers. Small 
groups of the dignitaries of the town, in holiday 
attire, were still at the saha (town square) en- 
joying wholesome clan gossip, while they fingered 
their play beads and puffed cigarette smoke. 
[41 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

With no great difficulty we found our way to 
Abu-Nasif' s house, not far from the Church of 
Our Lady, which we entered with the usual 
ceremony, wearing the commanding airs of en- 
terprise and wisdom. With dignified, patriarchal 
generosity Abu-Nasif received us into his hos- 
pitable home, declaring to us that he felt un- 
worthy of the honor of having us come under his 
roof. Turning to me, our host said: 

"I have no doubt your respected father sent 
you and your companion to me as his personal 
representatives, because he believes you to be 
wise master-builders. Therefore I honor you both, 
for your father's sake, and because, even from 
ancient times, it has always been considered 
seemly to honor wise minds and skilled hands. 
You are exceedingly welcome to my humble 
dwelling and to eat my bread and salt." 

Abu-Nasif 's wife was generous with her bread 
and salt. Our supper consisted, so far as I can re- 
[42 ] 



ABU-ROSTUM AND I 

member, of a highly nutritious dish of rice and 
chick-peas cooked together in mutton fat, cheese 
cakes, olives, grape sugar in a semi-fluid state, 
and bread. At the supper table Abu-Nasif spoke 
most appreciatively of the manner in which my 
father received his messenger and kinsman, 
Asaad; then somewhat abruptly and almost 
automatically shifted to detailing the merits of 
the letter which his nephew wrote to my father. 
"No doubt," said our host, addressing me, 
"no doubt Asaad told you what a marvel with 
the pen my nephew, Selim, is. Of course the letter 
was not all of his origination (insha). There were 
many people here on that night, because they 
had heard of my intention to have Selim write 
that letter and that I was going to build and so 
forth, and many of them dictated. But Selim 
put it all in a manner to be proud of. His mind 
is very ingenious, and the school taught him 
much." 

[43] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

After a short pause which enabled Abu-Nasif 
to free his organs of speech from an exceptionally 
large morsel of food, he continued: "Now, mas- 
ters, one of the important reasons why I want to 
build a new house is the probabihty of Selim's 
getting married this winter. We are still nego- 
tiating the marriage, but we are likely to succeed 
before long. And, you know, being his father's 
elder brother, I must be forward in everything 
pertaining to the happy event. My heart's desire 
is to spread a great wedding-feast for Selim in 
the new house, — oh, may God prosper us! The 
damsel," went on the good man, "whom Selim 
intends to take to wife, God permitting, comes 
from a highly respectable family from the neigh- 
boring town of Sarfa. Her father has much — " 

"Oh, a great deal," interrupted Abu-Nasif 's 

wife most unexpectedly; "they are rich. They 

get their flour from Damascus, they have acres 

of mulberry-trees and vines and fig-trees and a 

[ 44 1 



ABU-ROSTUM AND I 

large flock of goats. She has nobody knows how 
many fine garments. They sold two hundred- 
weights of silk cocoons last June." 

"Yes, all that," spoke Abu-Nasif in a some- 
what higher key than before, casting at the same 
time what appeared to be a very casual sidewise 
glance at his wife, but which in reality was in- 
dignantly designed to make her yield to him the 
right of way again. "Yes, all that; but Selim de- 
serves all that they have. His learning, his spear- 
like stature, and his beauteous face are all above 
price. When you see him, masters, you will say, 
* Happy is the damsel that weds him."* 

The bounteous supper over, Abu-Nasif pro- 
ceeded to acquaint us with the plans for the 
house he had in mind. The presentation of the 
matter was brief and to the point. 

"I want a three-room house," he said — "the 
two upper rooms to be large enough to accom- 
modate my crop of silk cocoons, and to provide 
(45] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

space for the yield of my vines and fig-trees and 
a comfortable shelter for me and my family. The 
lower room I shall use for wood, charcoal, and 
like necessaries, leaving enough room for the 
stabling of a cow, and an enclosure for a brood 
or two of chickens. Furthermore, I beg you to 
proceed with all speed to construct the house 
before the winter season overtakes us." 

To us, Abu-Nasif's instructions seemed most 
concise and explicit, and his keen desire to have 
the house built before the winter season set in, 
perfectly justifiable. Therefore, Abu-Rostum and 
I soon put our heads together, hitched our mental 
faculties to Wisdom's star, and in a very short 
time informed Abu-Nasif that such a house as 
he contemplated building should be so many 
cubits long, so many high, and so many wide; 
the walls should be one cubit thick, and the 
foundations, like those of the house of the "wise 
man" of the Sermon on the Mount, were to rest 
[ 46 1 



ABU-ROSTUM AND I 

on solid rock. The estimated cost was also re- 
spectfully submitted. 

However, for the purpose of making our plans 
more clear to Abu-Nasif, and the still loftier pur- 
pose of impressing him as deeply as possible 
with our architectural ability, I proceeded to 
objectify our statement by sketching the plans 
right before his eyes. The facilities for perform- 
ing the ambitious architectural feat consisted of 
a chunk of charcoal for a pencil, and, for paper, 
the surface of the circular depression in the floor, 
which served as fireplace. Accurate measurements 
were for the time being no consideration. For 
straight lines, I trusted to the eye. No curves 
entered into the design. Elevations were not 
called for. The sketch of the impromptu plan, 
which was watched with admiration by the com- 
pany present, especially Abu-Nasif, consisted of 
four straight lines enclosing an oblong, another 
line marking the place of a partition between 
[47] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

the two upper rooms (for lack of facilities and 
other reasons, the lower room was not sketched), 
and very short lines marking the places of the 
doors and the windows — one door and one 
window for each room. 

"No wonder," said Abu-Nasif to me with 
great animation as he smiled over the charcoal 
design, "your father puts you in charge of build- 
ings, in spite of your tender years. An ingenious 
mind (*ahel zehy) guided your hand when you 
drew this fine plan. So says the proverb, *It is 
the nature of the duckling to swim.' You are your 
father's son. May God protect you." 

I tried hard to appear humbl e in the face of such 
lavish and sincere appraisal of my architectural 
endowments. To have won Abu-Nasif's heart so 
quickly by the dexterous use of a piece of charcoal, 
all of which was the result of a mere after-thought 
I had, seemed to me a very auspicious beginning 
of what proved a most eventful enterprise. 
[48] 



ABU-ROSTUM AND I 

"Your plans, masters, are faultless," said 
Abu-Nasif, *'and the suggested cost is reason- 
able. God permitting, we will proceed with the 
work to-morrow. I have already a quantity of 
stone gathered from old buildings, which will 
help to hasten us on our way. I have also en- 
gaged three laborers for you; two of them are 
Druses from a neighboring hamlet, and the third 
one of our own people." 

A bed was spread for us on the floor in a corner 
of the living-room where all Abu-Nasif's family 
slept. We were promised, however, for our per- 
manent lodging-place, the use of a small adjoin- 
ing storeroom, which was to be put in order in a 
day or two, with two beds in it, instead of one. 

It was in a very happy frame of mind, and 
with sanguine hopes and a prayerful spirit, that 
we went to our first night's repose under Abu- 
Nasif's roof. 




CHAPTER III 
THE ROUND HOLE IN THE ROCK 

Early on the following morning our employer 
conducted us to the "parcel of ground" on which 
the house was to be built. It was a terraced hill- 
side at the southwest corner of the town, some 
distance from the outermost fringe of houses, 
and just below a rocky elevation on which stood 
an ancient convent of Saint Elias. 

Like many other localities where convents have 
been built, the region was picturesque and lonely. 
[50 1 



THE ROUND HOLE IN THE ROCK 

The sandy and somewhat thin soil supported 
grapevines, fig, pomegranate, and ohve trees of 
moderate yield. Shaped stones and other rem- 
nants of masonry gave evidences that the "an- 
cient buildings" which once stood there could 
not have been of great antiquity. A short distance 
to the south the hillside was much more steep 
and the ground rocky and barren. It gave the 
appearance of a region which ghosts might 
frequent. 

Our immediate task was to gather and shape 
the necessary quantity of stone, to which we ap- 
plied ourselves with such enthusiasm as made 
Abu-Nasif rest assured that his new house would 
soon become a tangible reality. 

About the middle of the forenoon, we saw 
coming toward us by the footpath which led 
from the main road to Abu-Nasif's land the 
abbot of the convent of Saint Elias, accom- 
panied by one of the monks. The aged holy man, 
[51 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

pale-faced, tall, and well built, attired in the 
black and coarse garments of his order, with his 
cowl fallen from his black cap over his shoulders 
and his silver cross and chain, which seemed an 
extension of his white luxurious beard, glistening 
upon his breast in the morning sun, looked in- 
deed the epitome of centuries. The composed 
demeanor and trustful step of this priest of the 
order of Melchizedek, King of Peace, symbolized 
to our confiding minds with fresh charm, the 
everlasting reality of religion which has swayed 
the thoughts of men for untold centuries. 

As soon as he saw the abbot, Abu-Nasif 
brushed the dust from his hands against his 
woolen *aba and hastened with reverential cor- 
diality to meet him. 

"God give you good-morning!" {AllaJi yusah- 

ihaJc balhheir!) exclaimed Abu-Nasif, as he kissed 

the hand of the distinguished visitor and the 

silver cross upon his breast. "Your Reverence's 

[52] 



THE ROUND HOLE IN THE ROCK 

visit blesses us all this morning and our enter- 
prise. I feel overwhelmed with joy — " 

" God bless you, my son, Abu-Naslf ," said the 
abbot, as he lifted his hand with a benediction 
over our employer's head. "May God "prosper 
you — may God prosper you, your workers and 
all your dear ones," continued the holy man. 
"He is our help in all things." 

Abu-Rostum and I were not long in following 
Abu-Nasif's example and paying our respects to 
the good abbot. 

Upon reaching the spot where the new house 
was to be built, our visitor halted, and after 
easing the fatigue of his walk by a few deep 
breaths and a little coughing, looked around 
thoughtfully, then said to Abu-Nasif : 

"So you are going to build — you are going 
to build; may God be with you. About where is 
the house going to stand? " 

"From that large fig-tree this way," answered 
[53] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

Abu-Nasif. "The fig-tree will be close to the 
north end of the house." 

"Yes, yes," spoke His Reverence, "you will 
dwell under your own vine and fig-tree. May the 
promise of the Holy Book be fulfilled to you and 
you dwell in peace in this pleasant spot." 

"By your intercession," replied Abu-Nasif 
with humble satisfaction. 

"By the intercession of the Saints," replied 
the abbot, as he turned and looked at Abu- 
Rostum and me. 

"These are our master-masons," said Abu- 
Nasif; adding with a cordial laugh, "they are 
good men, but they belong to the Greek Church, 
father." 

"Oh, they are schismatics!" exclaimed the 
abbot with a benignant smile. " Never mind, my 
son, we will pray for their restoration to the 
Mother Church and to allegiance to the throne 
of Peter." 

[54 ] 



THE ROUND HOLE IN THE ROCK 

"We are all in the fold of Christ," remarked 
Abu-Rostum with the dignity of one well versed 
in church lore. 

''Our church is the Mother Church," said I 
with youthful zeal and impetuosity. 

The remark provoked a general laugh. 

"I had expected," said Abu-Nasif, "to have 
this young man's father take charge of the work, 
but it was impossible for him to come, so he sent 
his son in his place." 

"So the young defender of the Greek Church 
is your chief master-mason!" said the abbot, 
with a happy twinkle in his eye. 

"Yes," replied Abu-Nasif, "but he is wise far 
beyond his years. I wish Your Reverence could 
have seen what he did last night at our house. 
He amazed me. In a twinkling of an eye, and with 
only a piece of charcoal to work with, he drew 
the whole plan of the new house, doors, windows, 
and all. It was marvelous!" 
[55] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

"That is beautiful" (jameeT), remarked His 
Reverence. "Now, my son, I seldom walk down 
this way, but I wanted to see you this morning 
and wish you prosperity by the will of God at 
the very beginning of your work. Now I must go 
back. You know it will take me some time to 
walk up the hill to the convent. My days of vigor 
are all behind me, and I am looking every day 
for my translation to the eternal mansions." 

"Be gracious enough," said Abu-Nasif, "to 
lift up your right hand with a blessing upon us 
and upon this place. We want to build on sure 
foundations." 

"Yes, father," spoke Abu-Rostum, whose 
knowledge of the Psalms found at this juncture 
occasion to come into play, "* except the Lord 
build the house, they labor in vain that build it '; 
give us your blessing." 

The good abbot poured out a comprehensive 
word of supplication for us all and pronounced a 
[56] 



THE ROUND HOLE IN THE ROCK 

blessing upon the work which had brought us 
there together. 

" Those gracious words will drive away from 
us every evil influence," said Abu-Rostum. " We 
shall not fear now the ghosts we have been told 
appeared at times in this neighborhood." 

"No, fear not," commanded the abbot with 
reawakened interest. "Some of our monks told 
me some time ago that a female apparition was 
seen braiding her hair on one of those rocks yon- 
der. I do not know whether it was so, or whether 
one of the monks had such a fancy, because he 
had neglected his devotions." 
; "I have never seen any such djinn in this 
place," stated Abu-Nasif, "but have heard of 
others seeing some." 

"My son," said the abbot, casting a look 
around him, "if there are any of those beings 
here they must be friendly spirits. No other 
kind would dwell near a convent." 
[57] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

" Because of the frequent chanting of Psalms? " 
questioned Abu-Rostum with the air of an author- 
ity on the Scriptures. 

"Not only that," answered His Reverence. 
"The truth is, master, no evil spirit can defy the 
sound of a church-bell, especially the early morn- 
ing bell. It is a horror to them. As you must 
know, this is the chief function of the bell — to 
drive the evil spirits away. They are likely to 
appear anywhere, but they dread a church-bell 
and the form of the cross. So if there are any 
spirits in this region they must be of the angelic 
kind." 

Coming closer to the abbot, Abu-Rostum in- 
formed him in subdued tones of his ability to 
drive the spirits away by the power of the 
Psalms. 

"That is good," spoke the abbot, "but the 
power of a layman in such cases is limited to self- 
defense. He has no scriptural authority to *cast 
[58 1 



THE ROUND HOLE IN THE ROCK 

out demons.' This is the function of the conse- 
crated priest; the power comes from the Master 
Himself, glory be to His name." 

"But the magicians do drive away spirits"; 
said Abu-Nasif, "don't they, father?" 

"A certain kind only," answered the abbot. 
" They can drive away a spirit that is bound by 
magic — the accursed art — to a certain duty. 
Here Satan fights Satan, but they have no 
authority over evil spirits, such as Christ has 
given the Church and is exercised by its priests." 

Seeing that we were losing much precious time 
talking about ghosts, Abu-Nasif brought the 
awesome proceedings to a happy end by saying 
to his benevolent visitor: 

"So long as that bell sounds from that sacred 
convent, I don't fear any evil. Your Reverence's 
intercessions also will protect us. Your visit has 
been such a blessing to us all, and I implore that 
it be repeated often." 

[59 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

With a "God bless and prosper you," the 
abbot left us, and we returned to our work. 

It must have been about the first of October 
when we broke ground for building. We set the 
square where the southwest corner of the house 
should stand, stretched the line northward in the 
direction of the large fig-tree, drove the stakes 
for the front wall and set the men to digging the 
foundation, which proved to be "near" — that 
is, the solid rock was soon reached; except that 
at the northeast corner the diggers discovered, in 
an area of "permanent" natural rock, a round 
hole about five feet in diameter, apparently cut 
by human hands in some bygone generation. 
Upon inspecting the rather strange opening, I 
ordered the men to dig a little deeper, with the 
expectation that the rock-bottom would soon be 
reached. They therefore dug to the depth of 
about five feet, but no rock appeared; they 
found, however, mingled with the soil, small 
[60 ] 



THE ROUND HOLE IN THE ROCK 

quantities of mortar and fragments of pottery, 
which, together with the marks of the ancient 
workman's tools on the sides of the opening, 
awakened in us no httle interest. 

No less interesting to me than the round hole 
in the rock itself was the prognostic dialogue in 
which the two Druse laborers, Ahmed and 
Husein, were engaged, when I overheard them 
from the neighborhood of the fig-tree. Husein 
was down in the hole with a mattock and a 
wicker basket which he filled with dirt and 
handed up to Ahmed, who stood above at the 
edge of the mysterious opening. Puzzled by his 
surroundings and craving a breathing-spell, 
Husein leaned his left side against the handle of 
his mattock, wiped the sweat from his bronzed, 
rugged face on his right sleeve, reached through 
the open bosom of his coarse, fragrant shirt and 
scratched keenly and soothingly in the region of 
the left arm-pit; then with a deep sigh he mut- 
[61 J 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

tered lazily, "O Allah, what can this thing be!" 
After a few moments of deep meditation and an- 
other comprehensive, satisfying scratch in the 
upper area of his back, Husein looked up to 
Ahmed, who had assumed a crouching position 
above, with the empty wicker basket dangling 
from his right hand, and said : 

"What do you say this is, Ahmed?" 

"This is a hole made by a thunderbolt," an- 
swered Ahmed with a broad grin. 

"A hole by a thunderbolt? May Allah blast 
you! Does the thunder work with tools? Here 
are the marks of a chipping-tool, you donkey." 

"Yes, it is the hole of a thunderbolt, and you 
know, if you have brains, that the bolt comes 
from the heavens, goes through the earth, and 
does not stop until it reaches the water under the 
earth. In a little while I hope you will drop down 
into those fearfully deep waters, and we will get 
rid of you." 

[ 62] 



THE ROUND HOLE IN THE ROCK 

"Oh! how I would like to take hold of your 
unclean neck and break it! It would be such a 
relief to our village if you and all your clan were 
thrust into those waters under the earth! Do you 
know that some of our village people are going 
to petition the Government to exempt your clans- 
men from the poll-tax, because you are all feeble- 
minded?" 

"You are in the right position to be buried; 
if you say more such words I will haul this 
dirt down on your stinking head. So you'd 
better shut your mouth with a big clod and keep 
quiet.'* 

"You would not open your big mouth with 
such words if I were where I could take hold of 
you. You know who I am, don't you?" 

"If you know so much yourself, say what this 
hole is?" 

"This hole is a nawoos (Jewish tomb). May 
God curse them! the Jews wanted to be buried 
[63] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

in the rocks in order to keep their bodies whole 
to the day of resurrection." 

"No; this is the well of a grape-press. If you 
dig a little deeper you will find some molasses for 
our dinner. Go deeper." 

"Curse you! curse all your relations! All you 
want is to fill your belly. The grape-press has 
more than one well. There is the large treading- 
place [where the grapes are trodden] and two or 
three wells into which the juice runs to settle. 
But there is here only one well; it must be a 
Jewish tomb in which I wish I could bury you. 
Drop that basket down." 

Having had all the enjoyment I cared for from 
the hilarious dialogue, and not wishing to have 
Husein and Ahmed waste any more time in me- 
teorological and historical controversy, I came 
to them and asked Husein: 

"What is happening down there?" 

"Master," answered Husein, "this hole is 
[ 64 ] 



THE ROUND HOLE IN THE ROCK 

bottomless. The dirt gets finer and softer the 
deeper I dig, and there is no sign of rock." 

"It looks like the hole of a thunderbolt," said 
Ahmed, somewhat timidly. 

"No, Ahmed," I said with the gravity of a real 
boss, "a thunderbolt does not make this kind of 
hole." 

The remark called forth a loud laugh from 
Husein. He felt more sure of the soundness of his 
own judgment than ever before. 

Abu-Rostum and I concluded that further 
digging would be useless, and although we both 
felt very curious to know what the real char- 
acter of the hole was, yet, in order not to allow 
our curiosity to impede our progress, my partner 
and I concluded to have the round hole filled up 
with stones and — that we might secure a firm 
foundation for that corner of the house — to 
bridge it over with a small arch. The men were 
notified to this effect and in a short time the 
[Q5 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

interesting opening was filled up to a level with 
the surrounding rock. 

But at the close of that day, after our helpers, 
the "laborers," had gone, Abu-Nasif, Abu- 
Rostum, and I, undesignedly and by a common 
irresistible impulse, found ourselves standing to- 
gether around the curious hole, and saying to 
each other, "What might this thing be?" 

"It may be that we have stumbled upon a 
mekhbaiah'* (hidden treasure), suggested Abu- 
Rostum. 

With a restrained but deeply significant smile 
Abu-Nasif remarked, "I am not easily disturbed 
by such things, but of a truth, masters, I have 
had such a suspicion all this afternoon; certainly 
this hole is a strange thing, inasmuch as it is the 
work of the tool." 

My youthful mind was filled with excite- 
ment; I had had that suspicion too, and now 
that my elders had so expressed themselves, my 
[66 1 



THE ROUND HOLE IN THE ROCK 

hope was suddenly transformed almost into a 
certainty. 

Nor is it strange that we were all strongly pre- 
disposed to believe that we had stumbled upon a 
mekhbaiah. In Syria it is universally believed 
that hidden treasures may be found anywhere 
in the land, and especially among ancient ruins. 
This belief rests on the simple truth that the 
tribes and clans of Syria, having from time im- 
memorial lived in a state of warfare, have hidden 
their treasures in the ground, especially on the 
eve of battles. Furthermore, the wars of the past 
being wars of extermination, the vanquished 
could not return to reclaim their hidden wealth; 
therefore the ground is the keeper of vast riches. 
The tales of the digging and finding of such 
treasures fill the country. There are thrilling tales 
of treasures in various localities. Gold and other 
valuables are said to have been dug up in sealed 
earthen jars, often by the merest accident, in the 
I 67] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

ground, in the walls of houses, under enchanted 
trees, and in sepulchers. From earliest childhood 
the people's minds are fed on these tales, and 
they grow up with all their senses alert to the 
remotest suggestion of such possibilities. 

This mode of thinking is clearly reflected in 
that short parable in the thirteenth chapter of 
Saint Matthew, in which it is said: "The king- 
dom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; 
the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and 
for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, 
and buyeth that field." It was most natural, 
therefore, for us to suspect that the round hole 
might be the doorway to a vast treasure hidden 
somewhere in the heart of the surrounding rock, 
and to decide to follow up our enchanting clue. 



•/^/-^l^-^ 




sn.««.e*.«»«^ 



CHAPTER IV 
TAKING COUNSEL TOGETHER 
At sundown we assembled at Abu-Nasif 's house 
to take counsel together. Through mental ger- 
mination, under the spell of all that we had been 
taught with regard to hidden treasure, "the will 
to believe" grew steadily stronger; therefore the 
chief problem which presented itself to us was 
how to devise the best and safest method of find- 
ing the precious pots of gold. 
But this problem was no simple one. In the 
169 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

first place the treasure might be guarded by a 
Russed — a dread, deathless spirit which knew 
neither slumber nor sleep. For was it not told 
often of persons who presumed to possess them- 
selves of an enchanted treasure, that they were 
smitten mercilessly by the Rushed with incurable 
physical and mental afflictions? There was Yusuf 
Abu-Hatim, who had recently died, and who was 
still remembered by many in our community 
chiefly because of a horrible deformity from 
which he suffered as a result of an encounter with 
a spirit treasure-guard. For years Yusuf's lower 
jaw had been so twisted that his tongue touched 
his ear whenever he attempted to speak. Another 
unfortunate was Makhaul Asaad, who under 
similar circumstances was smitten with a perpet- 
ual hunger which made of him a howling beast. 
Other men suffered other punishments for their 
intrusion upon the domains of the mysterious 
powers. 

[70] 



TAKING COUNSEL TOGETHER 

In the second place, we had always known that 
the Turkish Government prohibited secret dig- 
ging for treasures, under severe penalty. Such 
operations could be safely carried on only after 
a government permit had been procured; but it 
was well-nigh impossible to obtain these permits, 
and moreover they stipulated (according to the 
popular and in all probability inaccurate under- 
standing) that one third of the treasure should go 
to the finder or finders, one third to the owner of 
the land in which the treasure was found, and 
one third to the Government. In Turkey, espe- 
cially in the days of Abdul-Hamid, we were ruled 
not by laws but by men. What the past had 
taught us with regard to such cases was that, in 
administering the "law," the Government usu- 
ally took all that was found, and rewarded the 
digger by throwing him into prison on the charge 
that he must have found much more than he had 
made known to the officials. It was for the serious 
[71 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

consideration of these and kindred, though less 
weighty, matters that we assembled at Abu- 
Nasif 's house on that memorable evening. 

The company included Abu-Nasif, his wife, 
his daughter-in-law, his two sons, 'Assaf and 
Mulhim, Abu-Rostum, and myself. After the 
Oriental fashion, we all sat on the floor, which 
was covered with straw mats, cushions, and 
sheepskins. The men formed a semicircle which 
terminated at either side of the maukedah (fire- 
place) sitting "knee upon knee." The women, 
who were not supposed to take a conspicuous 
part in the deliberations, sat at one side, behind 
us. The elder lady, like the "virtuous woman" in 
the Book of Proverbs, "laid her hand to the spin- 
dle" and spun thread; the younger lady was 
making an arkiah (the white muslin skull-cap, 
closely stitched, which is worn under the tar- 
boosh, projecting slightly around the forehead, 
and is to the tarboosh what the cuff is to the 
[72] 



TAKING COUNSEL TOGETHER 

sleeve). Those good women, however, were not 
altogether detached mentally from the subject 
in hand, for as we progressed in our serious delib- 
erations they gave pious sighs and cast upward 
looks which signified a profound imploring of the 
higher powers. 

Of course, profound secrecy was the first 
prerequisite, and to this all of us pledged our- 
selves without the slightest mental reservation. 
Abu-Nasif, being the oldest man among us, as 
well as the owner of the land, occupied the seat 
of honor. He was a man of dignified but stern 
appearance, reserved in speech, of a fiery temper- 
ament when crossed; and although of a stubborn 
will he was paradoxically capable of startlingly 
sudden mental changes. On this occasion, how- 
ever, he was very tractable, even amiable, and 
spoke in a wise and happy manner. 

Our first decision was that we would not notify 
the authorities of our intentions. The prize we 
[73 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

were seeking seemed to us great enough to justify 
our running the risk of being "caught in the act," 
rather than expose ourselves voluntarily to Turk- 
ish injustice and cruelty. The affair was wholly 
our own. Furthermore, Abu-Rostum and I real- 
ized instinctively that if the authorities were 
notified, and, in the event of our success, took 
one third of the treasure, and if Abu-Nasif took 
one third as the owner of the land, and then he, 
his wife, his sons, and his daughter-in-law took 
their shares, as "diggers," of what was left, our 
portions would be indeed very small. Conse- 
quently Abu-Rostum and I were decidedly op- 
posed to the ruinous legal method of procedure. 
The mystery of the Russed next claimed our 
attention. It was barely possible that the treas- 
ure we were seeking was not "guarded." But 
what if it were? Which one of us was so foolhardy 
as to presume to run such an awful risk.?^ In due 
time a great Mughreby (magician) must be sought 
[74 ] 



TAKING COUNSEL TOGETHER 

to neutralize the mysterious power for us before 
we should venture to possess ourselves of the dis- 
covered gold. But such a necessity was as yet 
remote; much work must be done, and stronger 
evidences of the existence of the treasure secured, 
before the aid of Mughreby was absolutely needed. 
Russeds had often been known not to molest 
treasure-diggers until they presumed to carry the 
gold away. Some spirits had even been known to 
give warning, in rattlesnake fashion, thus afford- 
ing intruders an opportunity to escape before the 
treasure was disturbed. One of our townsmen, 
who possessed a self -augmenting memory, often 
told me of a treasure in a cave in the neighbor- 
hood of Mount Hermon — a heap of silver coin, 
which no man could carry away because of the 
Russed which as yet no magician had been able 
to "neutralize." That man asserted that he him- 
seK visited the cave and handled the coin; but 
that when he tried to carry some of it away he 
[75] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

could not find the door of the cave, and kept 
going round in a circle until he dropped the pre- 
cious burden. 

The immediate problem, then, was how to 
carry on the necessary operations of digging with- 
out being discovered. The enchanted spot was 
somewhat remote from the more populous section 
of the town, but the convent of Saint Elias was 
only a short distance away, and several monks 
labored in its fields and vineyards daily from 
dawn till dusk. Just a little way below us there 
was a public fountain, to which all day an almost 
unbroken line of women came to fill their jars. 
Besides, there were our tenders, Ahmed and 
Husein, the Druses, who dug the hole for us, and 
whom we certainly did not wish to admit into 
our confidence. In such matters no Druse could 
be expected to keep the secret of a Christian, the 
"enemy of his faith." 

We met the first of these difficulties by decid- 
[76] 



TAKING COUNSEL TOGETHER 

ing that, as it was well known to the entire com- 
munity that we were building a house near the 
convent, the presence of laborers in the neigh- 
borhood would excite no suspicion. As to Ahmed 
and Husein, some way could easily be found to 
"lay them off" for a day or two, and they lived 
in another town far away. How to dispose of the 
ancient coin and jewelry without being suspected 
of having found a treasure, did not at the time 
perplex us very seriously. In fact we were averse 
to even the slightest suggestion which tended to 
dampen our ardor and weaken our resolution. 




CHAPTER V 

SELIM AND THE MYSTERIOUS MAN 
Having thus disposed of our problems, we fell 
into poetic contemplation of the glorious future 
which loomed before us. The palaces we designed 
that night for our future dwelling-places, the 
Arabian steeds, Persian hand-wrought arms, 
European carriages, and a multitude of other 
luxuries, formed the extensive programme of the 
millennial period which seemed about to dawn 
[78 1 



SELIM AND THE MYSTERIOUS MAN 

upon us; and our imaginings did full justice to 
the Oriental passion for idleness and luxury. 
True, some differences of taste were manifest 
among us with regard to our future environment 
and mode of living, but they were not serious 
enough to precipitate a quarrel. 

The evening took on its gala aspect when our 
host and employer, Abu-Nasif , swayed most hap- 
pily by the vision of an opulent future, asked his 
wife to unlock the old wooden chest next to his 
bed and bring out whatever confections were 
there and put them before us. 

"Get out those hazel-nuts, wife," he said to 
her, "and the sugar-coated chick-peas; get us 
also a plateful of those yellow raisins from the 
small earthen barrel in the corner, and the bottle 
of 'arak from the shelf over the barrel." 

That was the first time since Abu-Rostum and 
I had come under Abu-Nasif's roof that such a 
spread had been put before us. 
[79 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

*■ **We have been keeping these things," stated 
Abu-Nasif with a smile, *'for times of sudden 
arrival of guests, when it is necessary for a family 
to save its face by being ready to put something 
before such visitors. But," he added, looking at 
his wife who was already exploring the old chest 
and bringing out from among her husband's holi- 
day garments and some heirlooms the precious 
reserve of confections, "bring them on, the Lord 
will provide for the future." 

One of the sons who was particularly fond of 
'arah brought out the bottle from its hiding- 
place, and the other placed upon the floor before 
us a large straw tray of bright colors and a pleas- 
ant design, on which his mother put the confec- 
tion plates. 

"To your health, masters," said our host as he 
lifted the first glass of 'arak to his lips. "To your 
health, all; may we drink it again, all of us, in 
celebration of the great find." 
[80 1 



SELIM AND THE MYSTERIOUS MAN 

"In sha' Allah!" (By the will of God!), we an- 
swered in chorus. "May He grant it!" 

The cup was passed around and drunk with 
the same pious desire and imploring for the reali- 
zation of our great hopes. Even the women took 
a drink, which, however, is not uncommon in 
that country on festal occasions. Never did the 
cracking of hazel-nuts under our teeth and the 
crushing and mastication of sugar-coated chick- 
peas sound so musical as they did on that eve- 
ning. Nor did the agitating joy of the hour have 
any adverse eflPect upon our appetites. 

Abu-Rostum favored us with a few lines from 
the Psalms chanted sweetly and low. He seemed 
certain of success, and his knowledge of the mys- 
teries of the sacred writings elevated his hopes, 
in our estimation, to the lofty heights of a divine 
assurance. 

"Do you know, masters," said Abu-Nasif, as 
he gazed dreamily at his cigarette held artistic- 
[81] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

ally between his smoke-yellowed fingers, " I have 
always longed for a complete set of Persian arms 
— a gun, a pair of pistols, and a belt-knife, all 
Persian." 

"Hmm," grunted Abu-Rostum, "a rich un- 
cle of mine once had such a set, which he bought 
from a Persian tobacco merchant in Damas- 
cus. It was the joy of all the eyes that looked 
at it and the pride of our clan." 

"Yes, yes," returned Abu-Nasif, "I have seen 
such arms. The marvel about them is the mag- 
ical tracery on the iron. It is like the creeping of 
fine brown ants and possesses real magical pow- 
ers. They say that the djinn never will attack a 
man armed with such weapons, and that a shot 
from them carries farther and hits more accu- 
rately than from any other weapon. When for- 
tune comes, a set of Persian arms shall be my first 
purchase." 

" It must be true that such arms possess mag- 
[82 ] 



' SELIM AND THE MYSTERIOUS MAN 

ical powers," commented the learned Abu- 
Rostum, "because we are told that the Persians 
worship fire and exalt Satan — may God cast 
him off!" 

"Another thing," spoke again Abu-Nasif, with 
his curved index finger in the air, "and it is a 
thing which I once saw in my younger years in 
the eastern part of the country. You know those 
Arab emirs are wonderful men. On occasions 
they do lofty deeds." 

" He is going to tell of that Arab wedding," said 
his wife to her daughter-in-law in gentle accents. 

"Yes, that is it," continued Abu-Nasif. "When 
the great Arab sheikh came to that wedding (and 
I shall never forget it), and just before he reached 
the large house where the festivities were being 
held, the father of the bridegroom ordered the 
killing of three sheep, right in the way of the vis- 
iting sheikh, and made him ride over the blood 
into his yard. Would not my heart dance for joy 
[83] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

if I could invite Fu'ad Beg, the Governor of our 
district, to Selim's wedding and kill a sheep in 
front of his horse and make him ride over the 
blood to our new house? O Giver of all good 
iya mu^aty), grant it!" 

"Amen!" from all of us. 

"An Arabian thoroughbred is my desire," said 
'Assaf. "The saddle of such a mount is heaven. 
With a fine suit of lead-colored broadcloth, a 
wine-colored velvet vest, a white- and-black silk 
sash, patent leather high boots, and what the 
Afrenj (Europeans) call a marteen (Martini rifle), 
I shall be satisfied. Would not the hearts of the 
young men of this town melt within them with 
envy to see me so attired on the back of such a 
charger?" 

My own desire was for a spacious mansion 

with quite an arsenal of varied weapons, a kar- 

rusa (carriage) and not a few servants. I had the 

legitimate desire also for a "most beautiful wife.*' 

[84] 



SELIM AND THE MYSTERIOUS MAN 

"When fortune comes, cousin," said Abu- 
Rostum, with both arms in the air, "even a 
king's daughter will be glad to marry you ! " 

The wishing went on merrily. The women 
wished for silk gowns from Frensa (France) and 
various other feminine joys. 

Be it said, however, to the glory of the femi- 
nine sex that it was Abu-Nasif's wife who, on 
that evening of riotous wishing for earthly power 
and glory, counseled us to be humble of heart. 

"All this is worldly pride," she said to us with 
a most humble smile, as she rested her spindle 
resignedly in her lap. "Say *as God wills.' Make 
vows to the Saints. I shall be willing to dress al- 
ways just as I am now dressed, in this blue mus- 
lin dress, if we only are granted the treasure. 
May God forgive us all this wishing ! " 

"Of course as God wills," came from the rest 
of the treasure-seekers. 

"Not by our own power," said Abu-Rostum 
[85] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

with a somewhat forced humility, "do we expect 
to have all these things. He who dwelleth on 
high is our Helper; without Him we can do 
nothing." 

The assent of the rest of us to these prayerful 
observations was not altogether induced by the 
fact that if we ever needed divine help in any 
enterprise it was then, when success meant ease 
and emancipation forever. 

The brief lull which logically followed these 
pious remarks was characterized by occasional 
and meditative dipping into the confectionery 
plates. Presently we heard quick and vigorous 
steps approaching our door, and before one could 
say, "Listen, who is coming!" there walked in 
Selim, the letter-writer, who was "a marvel with 
the pen" and whose stature was "spear-like" in 
flexibility and grace. 

"My soul, my heart, my eyes" (endearing 
terms), exclaimed Abu-Nasif, addressing his 
[86] 



SELIM AND THE MYSTERIOUS MAN 

nephew, "what brings you here at this hour of 
the night? What, Selim?" 

"A very important matter," answered SeUm 
with ominous air and firm accents. 

"What can that be?" asked the uncle. 

Selim appeared reluctant to speak of the "im- 
portant matter" before the whole company, 
especially because Abu-Rostum and I were 
strangers to him. 

"Speak out, my heart," urged Abu-Nasif, 
"these masters are no longer strangers to us; I 
have come to love them as the members of our 
own family. Speak, dear Selim, and quickly!" 

"News has just come to my father from 
Sarfa," said Selim with profound agitation, "that 
the parents of the girl are wavering in their 
promise to us — " 

"Wavering!" shouted Abu-Nasif; "whatfor?" 

"The rumor is," answered the "marvel with 
the pen," "that a young man of their own blood, 
[87] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

of the clan of Aswed, has come forward and 
asked for the girl for a wife, and that his imme- 
diate family expect to approach her father some 
time this winter with the proposition." 

"The dogs!" exclaimed Abu-Nasif; "where 
on earth or in heaven can they find one like you 
for their daughter — " 

"Oh, Mother of Christ!" burst out Abu- 
Nasif 's wife, "what must those Asweds of Sarfa 
be to want any other young man but you, who 
are the flower of all young men ! " 

"Uncle!" shouted Selim, with his right hand 
on the hilt of his belt-knife and his eyes flashing 
fire, "I shaU go to Sarfa alone — yes, alone! — 
and get her from those dogs, even if they were a 
thousand! I will make this steel" (drawing his 
dagger) " drunk with their blood ! It is my own 
honor and the honor of our clan, uncle, and not 
the girl that I am after." 

"Oh, misery! " cried Abu-Nasif 's wife with her 
[88] 



SELIM AND THE MYSTERIOUS MAN 

hands over her eyes. "SeHm, my heart, don't 
shed so much blood. Let them have their girl; 
there are many others who will die to marry you." 

" Never ! "shouted her sons. " We will have her 
for Selim at the point of the sword; it's honor 
now, and nothing else!" 

To show our personal interest in the momen- 
tous enterprise, Abu-Rostum and I entered into 
the conversation with feeling. We counseled pa- 
tience and waiting until more was heard from 
Sarfa on the subject. 

"I will tell you," said Abu-Rostum with sage- 
like gravity, "all this means that they want you 
for a son-in-law and no other. They have floated 
this rumor that another has come forward to 
marry the damsel in order to make sure of you. 
Between now and the Advent have the espousal 
ceremony take place and be generous with your 
wine and confections on that occasion. After the 
espousal occurs, then they are bound fast, and 
[89] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

by Easter-time let the ikleeV (the solemnizing of 
the marriage) " take place. I know well how these 
marriage affairs go," added Abu-Rostum with a 
wise smile soon clouded by a puff of smoke 
from his cigarette. 

"Abu-Rostum's words sink deep into my 
brain," said Abu-Nasif with the joy of one who 
had found the means of warding off a calamity. 
"That must be the case with those Asweds of 
Sarfa, and I want you, dear Sehm, to be calm. 
For the color of your beloved eyes, I will spend 
what is necessary in order to show those people 
what we really are." 

' "But, uncle, you are not rich, nor is my 
father." 

[ "Be not anxious about that," answered Abu- 
Nasif, looking into the future. "I will bear the 
expense of the espousal, tell your father. This 
will we do: after I am done with the plans of 
building, your father and I, and several others of 
[90] 



SELIM AND THE MYSTERIOUS MAN 

our representative men, will go to Sarfa for the 
espousal ceremony — " 

"Take the priest with you," observed Abu- 
Nasif's wife with a strongly reinforcing gesture. 
"Take the priest with you and let him with their 
own priest make the ceremony very sure in its 
binding power." 

"Yes, we will do that," said the uncle; "and 
tell your father, dear, that I will order from 
Beirtit by the muleteer two rottles [the rottle is 
about five and a half pounds] of sugar, one rottle 
each of hazel-nuts, sugar-plums, sugar-coated 
chick-peas, and two rottles of plain roasted chick- 
peas and raisins mixed. We will take also a 
whole goatskin full of wine and a quarter of 
a rottle of coffee. Those dogs of Sarfa ought to 
be satisfied with all that for the espousal oc- 
casion." 

Selim's countenance shone brightly. His stat- 
ure became more spear-like than ever, 
[91] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

"Uncle," he said affectionately, "may God 
prolong your life and keep you as our great reli- 
ance. I must go, because my father is anxiously 
waiting to know what you thought of the matter. 
Good-night!" 

Selim dashed off with great hopes, and our 
own circle regained its composure. 

The hour was then late and our treasure plans 
seemed to have been finally agreed on. So after 
a brief silence disturbed only by a few yawns, 
Abu-Rostum suggested that we go to bed. The 
remark met with acceptance by the members 
of the company, with the exception of Abu-Nasif . 
He seemed for a few minutes to fall into a state of 
deep contemplation. His face was illumined as 
with a new and significant vision, and his eyes 
moved dreamily from one face to another. Pres- 
ently, pushing his turbaned tarboosh back from his 
forehead, he startled us with the following tale: 

"Ya shebab'' (valiant young men), exclaimed 
[92 I 



SELIM AND THE MYSTERIOUS MAN 

Abu-Nasif, "hear, and I will speak to you! Many 
years ago, while on my way from Beirut, I 
stopped to sustain my heart with a morsel of food 
at the inn of Ber-el-Werwar. While I was eating, 
my eyes fell upon a Mughrehy who sat near the 
door of the inn, wrapped in his dark striped 
cloak. So mysterious was he that he might have 
but just emerged from the cave of Daniel.^ When- 
ever I looked at him I saw his black piercing eyes 
fixed upon me, and I feared that he might be- 
witch me. But I named the Holy Name and thus 
strengthened my heart against him. Having done 
with my food, I lighted a cigarette and braved 
danger by going closer to the mysterious man. 
From his manner I perceived that he had some- 

* The cave of Daniel (the prophet), with the walls covered 
with talasim (mystic inscriptions), was supposed to exist deep in 
the heart of the earth, somewhere in North Africa. The earth 
yawned at that spot only once each year, when seekers after the 
supreme art of magic descended into the cave and there stayed a 
whole year without food, emerging when the earth yawned again, 
instructed in all the mysteries of the diabolical art. 

[93] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

what to say to me, so I moved still closer to him 
and respectfully asked him: 

"*0 Hajj, have you aught for me, and is it 
salaam and good fortune?' 

"Fastening his fire-striking eyes more intently 
upon me, the Mughreby answered : 

"*Yes, wayfarer, I have somewhat to tell 
you, and it is salaam and good fortune, if you 
prove yourself cautious and deserving. You 
are a dweller of the mountain region; you 
own a parcel of land near a shrine. In one of the 
terrace walls of that parcel of land is a high 
rock chipped by a stone-cutter's tool. If you 
would possess riches, measure forty cubits from 
that rock eastward and dig. I will say no more 
now; only that you must beware of the myste- 
rious powers. Allah is the wise and bounteous 
giver.' " 

Abu-Nasif 's revelation thrilled our souls to the 
very center. 

[ 94 ] 



SELIM AND THE MYSTERIOUS MAN 

"And what did you do about it?'* was our 
eager question. 

"Nothing,'* said he. "That was shortly after 
the hereJcah" ^ (disturbance), "when the blood 
was still hot and men*s minds were perplexed. 
Later, the rolling on of the years made me forget 
the matter." 

Angels! What clearer evidence did we require 
to prove to us that Abu-Nasif 's parcel of ground 
contained a treasure? 

The night being cloudy and dark, no measure- 
ments could be taken then; but we watched for 
the morning. 

^ A brief civil war between the Christians and the Druses, in 
1860. 




<xv- w««ei 



CHAPTER VI 

THE DARK CAVE 
On the morrow, at the earHest dawn, "before 
faces could be recognized,'* we were on the inter- 
esting spot. We found the "high rock chipped 
by a stone-cutter's tool," and measured from it 
"eastward" forty cubits. The fortieth cubit 
spanned the mouth of the round hole! Our joy 
reached the point of consternation. Riches lay 
at our feet! Should we not proceed at once to 
uncover the treasure.? But that would not be 
wise. Our helpers, Ahmed and Husein, would soon 
be with us, and if they once got wind of our in- 
[96] 



THE DARK CAVE 

tentions they would certainly betray us to the 
dread authorities. We would therefore possess 
our souls in patience through that day, follow 
our normal activities, and in the meantime find 
a suitable excuse to dispense with the services 
of the Druses for the morrow, when we would 
proceed with the digging, all by ourselves. 

The day seemed endless and full of drudgery. 
To be toiling like slaves while riches lay at our 
feet was anything but pleasant; but we bore up 
under our secret with stoical fortitude. Aside 
from a few significant glances and winks which 
we shot at one another during the weary hours, 
we betrayed no signs which could awaken the 
suspicions of our alien fellow laborers. But what 
excuse could we find for telling them not to 
come on the morrow? 

Here Abu-Rostum, who was a church "reader" 
and often assisted at the Mass, came to the res- 
cue. His suggestion was that we tell Ahmed and 
[97 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

Husein, who knew nothing about the Christian 
calendar, that the following day was a holy day 
on which we Christians were forbidden to work, 
and of which we had forgotten to speak to them 
earlier in the week. Furthermore, the following 
day being Friday, it would not be worth while 
for them to come on Saturday; therefore they 
need not report until the following Monday. The 
two Druses, fearing the loss of their job alto- 
gether if they should remonstrate, accepted the 
situation, with what inward dissatisfaction we 
did not know or care. 

Threatening weather gave us an added sense 
of security from intruders on that Friday morn- 
ing. As the early rays of the gray dawn began to 
stream over the heights of Lebanon, our party 
of seven, five men and two women, began the 
work of removing the stones which the work- 
men had thrown into the round hole two days 
before. Needless to say, our hands moved with 
[98 ] 



THE DARK CAVE 

such power and swiftness that in an incredibly 
short time all the stones were thrown out; and 
the digging was resumed with the greatest 
eagerness. 

We had not gone deeper than a foot when 
there appeared at the west side of the opening 
the edge of a large slab of stone about five inches 
thick, standing upright, sealed around the edges 
with mortar and apparently covering the mouth 
of a horizontal excavation. When this stone was 
partly uncovered, I took the hammer and tapped 
it lightly three times. The strokes produced a 
hollow sound and a faint echo within. Our hearts 
beat violently, and our faces turned pale with 
excitement. 

Abu-Nasif, who stood above at the mouth of 
the opening, with his wife and daughter-in-law, 
as sentinels, reverently lifted his turbaned tar- 
boosh from his head, crossed himself, turned his 
face toward the shrine of Saint Elias, and in 
[99] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

most solemn accents vowed that if our efforts 
were crowned with success he would place over 
the image of the gray-bearded Saint a jeweled 
crown of pure gold. The two women sealed the 
fervent vow by beating upon their breasts and 
saying imploringly, "Yea, Amen!" which was 
echoed with profound sincerity by each one of us. 

Saint Elias was accorded the first honor simply 
because he was the superhuman personage near- 
est to us geographically. The Virgin Mary, Saint 
Antonio, whose shrine crowned the rocky sum- 
mit overlooking the fertile valley in which the 
town nestled, and other Saints who were deemed 
the mightiest helpers of men, were implored with 
most persuasive promises to take a deep interest 
in our enterprise. I now realize that only a gold 
mine of the richest output could have paid all 
the vows we made on that occasion. 

After we had dug to the depth of about three 
feet behind the stone slab, Abu-Rostum swung 
[ 100 ] 



THE DARK CAVE 

his hammer and struck the stone several times 
at about the center. It broke and fell in many 
pieces, revealing a large dark cave, lit only by 
the light which streamed into it through the 
opening we had just made. 

Instantly Abu-Rostum jumped into the hole, 
muttering what sounded like pious words. The 
women, forgetting for the moment the danger of 
such demonstrations, gave a scream. 'Assaf and 
Mulhim gave vent to their pent-up feelings 
simultaneously with a characteristic Syrian ex- 
pression in the Arabic language: "Igit wa Allah 
jabhal" which is, by literal interpretation, "It 
has come, and God has brought it"; and in more 
intelligible English, "Fortune has come, by the 
grace of God." Abu-Rostum and I felt too full 
for utterance. And suddenly, without knowing 
how we got there, we two found ourselves 
squeezed together in the square opening on our 
way to the darkness within. No sooner did we 
[ 101 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

get inside than our three comrades came in, 
elbowing one another, the sons (forgetting for the 
moment the proprieties of patriarchal family 
life) preceding their father. The women re- 
mained outside and hurled questions at us while 
they implored us to beware of the Russed. 

Before us lay a cave about forty feet long and 
twenty-five feet wide. The soft chalk-rock ceil- 
ing had crumbled with the flight of the years, 
and had come down in heaps at various points. 
The huge fig-tree growing in the soil above sent 
its roots through the seams in the rock to the 
cave below. But on the left as we entered, the 
rocky wall of the cave was of a more solid sub- 
stance, and, as far as we could see, smooth as the 
palm of the hand. 

The roughness of the interior of the cave and 
its vastness seemed for the moment to over- 
whelm us. Where were we to dig? What spot of 
the large interior held the treasure? What were 
[ 102 1 



THE DARK CAVE 

we to do with the huge masses of crumbling rock? 
Abu-Rostum and I were the hope of the party 
in dealing with weighty engineering problems, 
but the difficulties of our situation were practical, 
not technical. Time, labor, and the ability to re- 
main hidden from the gaze of the outside world 
were the things most needful; but they would 
be difficult, if not impossible, to secure. For how 
could we hope to have the power to do the 
amount of work required? And how, supposing 
that we could do the work, were we to disguise 
such vast operations on the pretense that we 
were only building a house? 

However, it was most natural for us to want 
to test certain spots, in the hope of at least se- 
curing encouraging clues. So it was decided that 
we should proceed with the digging, very cau- 
tiously, close by the smooth rock, which seemed 
to us to be the sign left by those who buried the 
treasure, to guide them back to it. 
[ 103 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

The pickaxe and shovel brought to the surface 
pieces of mortar, pottery, and some ashes. Fa- 
vorable signs, especially the mortar and pottery. 
Further digging multiplied those signs, but re- 
vealed no new ones. We worked until shortly 
past the noon hour, as we saw by the shadows of 
the trees and the convent walls, when we laid 
down our tools and sat together in a sheltered 
spot to eat our frugal lunch and take further 
counsel. After the short period of silence which 
always characterizes the beginning of a meal with 
a hungry company, desultory remarks began to 
fall from our lips. 

"Mysterious! all is mysterious!" murmured 
Abu-Nasif, as in a trance. "I am convinced; 
there is a treasure under my fig-tree, but we 
must be wise in seeking it. The help of magic 
must be sought. We need, first, to know posi- 
tively the exact spot where the treasure is buried; 
and, second, the potion to break the spell of the 
[ 104 ] 



THE DARK CAVE 

Russed. I shall not allow any further digging 
without such means. Years ago the Mughreby 
warned me against the mysterious powers, and 
I do not feel that the lives of my sons and 
your lives, masters, should be recklessly exposed 
to such awful danger, seeing that our wrestling 
is not with flesh and blood, but with superhuman 
principalities and powers." 

Silence fell upon us. Abu-Nasif reached for his 
tobacco-bag of brown worsted and rolled a ciga- 
rette; then took out his flint and steel and a bit of 
tinder from a small leathern pouch, "struck fire," 
and in a meditative, almost abstracted, manner, 
poked the burning tinder with the edge of the 
flint into the end of his cigarette. The smoke 
seemed to break the spell. Resting his chin lightly 
on the end of his thumb, Abu-Nasif spoke again: 

"All signs, masters, seem to point to the fact 
that some spirit inhabits this place. Besides the 
warning of the Mughreby to me years ago, the say- 
[ 105 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

ing of one of the monks of Saint Elias's convent, 
as the abbot told us the other day, that a spirit 
had been seen in these parts, is also important. 
It comes to my mind now that the dwelling of 
that spirit is in the cave we have just discovered, 
so we must be warned." 

Then it flashed upon me that Abu-Rostum's 
profound knowledge of the Psalms, by which he 
could "arrest" snakes and do many other mighty 
works, might save the situation. So I turned to 
my colleague with the disconcerting question: 

"Can't you," I asked, "use your sacred magic 
in this case, vanquish the spirit, and make it safe 
for us to dig further for the treasure?" 

Seemingly Abu-Rostum had been hoping all 
the time that such a stupendous responsibility 
would not be placed upon his shoulders. He knew 
his own limitations much better than I knew 
them. My question troubled him. 

"My magic," answered Abu-Rostum with 
[ 106] 



THE DARK CAVE 

considerable embarrassment, "is of the sacred 
kind. The Russed spirit, being commissioned by 
a magician to guard a treasure, requires Hke 
magic to release it and drive it away. You see," 
he added with soothing confidence, "if this spirit 
has appeared about this spot in spite of the con- 
vent belly it must be then a spirit that has been 
bound to a certain duty — that is, it must be a 
Russed. So did the holy abbot speak to us about 
such spirits that are bound to certain duties. 
I do not dare, nor does my sacred magic allow 
me, to combat such an evil being." 

Abu-Rostum escaped a dread responsibility 
more easily than I had thought he could. None 
of us urged him to reconsider his decision and 
•undertake the mysterious task. The fact was we 
instinctively shrank from the thought of resign- 
ing our lives to his amateur art. The situation 
required the skill and daring of a veteran magi- 
cian of the first magnitude. 
[ 107 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

After careful deliberation, therefore, it was 
decided that two of us should proceed at once 
to Beirtit to consult and seek the aid of El- 
Abdeh (colored woman), a Mohammedan witch 
whose powers were supposed to equal those 
of the ancient witch of En-dor whom Saul 
sought in his extremity. The fame of El-Abdeh 
filled the land from Aleppo to Beirut and the 
regions of Judea. Great were the marvels she 
accomphshed, from the finding of a lost bracelet 
to the unhinging of the most august human in- 
tellect. Of a truth she had the power of render- 
ing any Russed harmless, inasmuch as she was 
a most intimate friend of Beelzebub. Associated 
with her was a Mughreby, who was also deeply 
versed in the diabolical arts, and who, in joint 
counsel with the Abdeh, dealt with the men 
clients. 

To Beirtit then, without delay! Meanwhile 
Abu-Rostum and I decided that it was not at all 
[ 108 ] 



THE DARK CAVE 

safe to build the house over a cave, that the plans 
must be altered, and that word should be sent 
to our Druse laborers bidding them not to come 
to us until further notice. 



C ^t^^'XX^ 




CHAPTER VII 
THE GREAT MUGHREBY 
MuLHiM and I were chosen to undertake the 
momentous mission to Beirut, which lies a good 
seven hours' journey, on foot, from Rasmola. 
We were instructed that if the Russed potion 
cost much more than two madjidies (the madjidy 
is the Turkish dollar, about eighty cents), we 
should not pay the price without further instruc- 
tions from our comrades. Five madjidies were 
given us for consultation fee and personal ex- 
penses. ^ 

[110] 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

We started on our journey about the middle 
of the afternoon, and, notwithstanding the fact 
that we had worked from early dawn, youth and 
the allurements of riches gave us quick and elas- 
tic steps. Night overtook us when we were still 
about three hours' journey from the great city. 
The region in which we found ourselves shortly 
after nightfall was the borderland between the 
provinces of Mount Lebanon and Beirut, and it 
is usually infested by highway robbers. The dark- 
ness, the rough, narrow, crooked footpaths, and 
our increasing fear of robbers kept all our senses 
at an uncomfortably high tension. 

Shortly after crossing the river El-Ghadir, 
whose banks are famous as haunts of robbers, a 
low, deep, harsh voice called from behind a stone 
wall, "What men?" — the equivalent in English 
of "Who goes there?" 

"Friends!" we answered, in rather squeaky 
accents. 

[1111 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

The figure of a tall man emerged from the 
darkness. Gripping tightly our walking-sticks, 
our only means of defense, we stood in a defiant 
attitude. As the man came closer we recog- 
nized in him a stalwart Turkish ^ soldier, fully 
armed and wearing the Mount Lebanon uni- 
form. Holding his gun and bayonet at a threat- 
ening angle, he ordered us to halt; and this we 
did, while we asked, "What is your pleasure, 
sir?'' 

"Who are you and where are you going?" 
asked the soldier of the Sultan. 

It was well known to us that the Turkish sol- 
diers, who were presumably "guarding the 
roads," were as dangerous to meet under these 
circumstances as the highway robbers from whom 
they were supposed to protect the pubhc. We 

^ This does not necessarily mean that the soldier was a Turk 
by race, but was serving in the Turkish Lebanonian army. That 
army consisted entirely of Christians and Druses. This soldier 
was a Christian. 

[ 112 ] 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

stood rigid with fear until the man approached 
and placed his hand on my shoulder, when to my 
inexpressible relief I recognized him as a very 
good acquaintance of our family. His wife came 
from our town, and I had seen him at our house 
many times in my earlier boyhood. 

"Is this Asaad Effendi.^^" I asked. 

He leaned forward and tried to see my face 
in the faint light of the stars, but could not recog- 
nize me. "Who are you, lad.^^" he inquired. 

After I had told him who I was and had men- 
tioned the name of his wife's family, he was cor- 
dial and said to us: 

"The times are disturbed and the Government 
is greatly agitated. These parts are very trouble- 
some always, but recently a robbery and murder 
occurred near here and the authorities are burn- 
ing to find the criminals. I am in command of the 
guard all along this road to-night. But you are 
safe. Go on your way, and if you should be ac- 
[ 113] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

costed by other soldiers tell them that you saw 
me near the bridge of El-Ghadir, and they will 
let you pass unmolested." 

Thanking him and our stars for the unexpected 
kindness, we resumed our journey. 

Upon reaching the carriage road near the 
"guard house" known as Furn-Eshiback, quite 
close to the outskirts of Beirut, we were glad to 
get into a public carriage, which took us into the 
great metropolis. 

But during this short ride, Mulhim caused me 
much anxiety. Owing to the fact that another 
passenger was in the carriage, Mulhim sat with 
the driver, who proved on close inspection to be 
an old acquaintance of his, the stranger having 
come from a village near to Rasmola. Presently 
I heard him exclaim: 

"Is this Malluke.? Malluke! Keifhalek?'' (How 
are you?) "What pleasure, exceeding pleasure, 
it is to see you, old friend!" 
I 114 1 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

"Mulhim?" inquired Malluke with equal cor- 
diality and effusiveness. 

"Yes, I am Mulhim, son of Abu-Nasif from 
Rasmola." 

"Allah, Allah, how dehghtfuUy strange this is! 
By Allah, this is a blessed night. Mulhim, I have 
not seen you since we boiled Easter eggs together 
at our own home three years ago. Friend, what 
is it that is taking you to Beirtit?" 

Our fearful experience with the soldier near 
El-Ghadir had already begun to react upon 
Mulhim. The face and cordial words of an old 
friend following closely upon that experience 
made Mulhim too confiding and too talkative for 
our own good. Malluke's question instantly 
aroused my fear. In this I was fully justified by 
Mulhim's answer. 

"What is taking me to Beirut?" spoke my 
altogether too happy partner. "If you only 
knew, Malluke, if you only knew!"^ 
[ 115] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

''What can it be, Mulhim?" 

"It is a thing which, by Allah, if it came true 
I would not be as I am now." 

"By the Virgin, Mulhim, tell me; tell me so I 
can rejoice with you. Is it marriage to some rich 
girl of Beirut, or some high position, or what?" 

"The story is a long one. Oh, dear Malluke, 
if things turn out as we hope, you will know. You 
will know when you see me on the back of a blond 
Arabian steed — " 

At this point my fear became a terror. Mulhim 
was surely about to let the cat clear out of the 
bag and put us in a desperate situation. The 
other passenger with me in the carriage was a 
Mohammedan, and I dreaded the possibility of 
his getting the faintest idea of the object of our 
mission. He seemed, however, to be in a world by 
himself. So far as I could see, his eyes were closed 
most of the time and he seemed to me to be either 
dozing or repeating his prayers. 
[ 116 ] 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

But it surely was high time for me to check 
Mulhim in his dangerous course. 

"Stop talking about blond Arabians," I called 
from behind with a forced laugh and a sharp 
punch with my stick in his back, "and give me a 
cigarette." 

The look upon my face which met Mulhim as 
he turned around to hand me a cigarette proved 
sufficient to check his flow of soul concerning the 
great future which lay before us. Malluke was 
somehow sidetracked and we were saved from a 
possible disaster. 

Upon our arrival in the great coast city of 
Syria, we sought lodging, not at an inn as the 
poor people do, but at a hotel. 

The supper we ordered would, under ordinary 
circumstances, have been beyond our means, but 
seeing that an opulent era was soon to dawn upon 
us we deemed it altogether proper, nay, neces- 
sary, that we should begin to practice luxurious 
I 117 ] 



'HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

living. But even then Mulhim declared that when 
fortune came he would not even look at such a 
hotel and such a supper as that; to which I re- 
joined, "I should say not!" 

Although very tired from our journey, sleep 
seemed to us out of the question. Besides, we had 
to plan very carefully how to meet the great 
witch and her associate Mughreby on the morrow 
— a dread undertaking for two youths such as 
we were. Before leaving home on that day, Abu- 
Nasif, who for some reason admired my "mental 
equipment," instructed his son to give my ideas 
the preference in dealing with the object of our 
mission. The son followed his father's instructions 
and I felt heavily laden with responsibility. 

My plan was that we should make a false state- 
ment to the Mughreby for the purpose of testing 
the power of his magic. If he or the great witch 
could discover the deception, then we might feel 
assured that they could read the mystery of our 
[ 118] 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

treasure. Mulhim agreed to everything I said, 
partly because of the instructions his father had 
given and partly because of his strong desire to 
escape stating the case himself. 

But meeting the witch and the Mughreby was 
not our only difficult task. They lived in that sec- 
tion of Beiriit known as El-Busta, the chief Mo- 
hammedan quarter; and for a Christian to pass 
through El-Busta without being roughly handled 
by Mohammedan ruffians was always considered 
a signal favor of fortune. The murders which 
occurred in El-Busta were utterly uninteresting 
to the public: the Christian fool had simply 
strayed to where he had no business to be, and 
no one took the trouble to inquire who killed him. 

But the witch lived at El-Busta among her 
kindred, and there we had to seek her. From our 
physiognomy, attire, and speech, any one could 
tell that we were Lebanonian Christians. We 
wore on our heads the old-fashioned tarboosh 
[ 119] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

(which was the ordinary headgear before the 
small tin-pail-shaped fez of the Turkish army- 
had come into general use), whose top resembled 
the end of a pumpkin with a large tassel attached 
to the stem, and a small narrow-folded, wine- 
colored silk scarf of Damascus make for a turban : 
a characteristic headgear for Christian youth. 
We planned to conduct ourselves very circum- 
spectly while at El-Busta. We would not gaze 
curiously at the Mohammedans, we would walk 
in a humble attitude, and strictly mind our own 
business. 

Our plans having been so happily laid out, we 
sought some sleep. Our slumber, however, was of 
short duration. That part of Beirut in which we 
found ourselves was and is sleepless. Our hotel 
was located at the terminus of the Beirtit- 
Damascus carriage road, on the very corner 
where the road merges with the chief city square, 
known then as Sahet-el-Bourgef and, since the 
[ 120 ] 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

proclamation of the Turkish Constitution, as 
Sahet-el-Hirriaty or Liberty Square. 

This famous Square is the point of departure 
from Beiriit for all the camel caravans and mule 
trains (so much more numerous at that time than 
since the construction of the railroad) for all parts 
of the Lebanon, Damascus, Homs, Hamath, 
Aleppo, and the Houran. So shortly after mid- 
night the city around us became tumultuously 
alive with the movements of those carriers of all 
sorts of merchandise, as well as the increasing 
activities of sellers of bread, cakes, and other 
necessities of life, which they carried on trays on 
their heads and moved with them from place to 
place, calling their wares and prices at the top of 
their voices as they went. 

To us dwellers of the mountain villages, the 

habitual commotion of a large city always was as 

pleasantly and grandly stimulating as the roaring 

surf of the sea. It was indescribably broadening. 

[ 121 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

Especially was this true of Beirlit, the great port 
of our whole country, and which for us united 
the life of splendid Europe with that of the an- 
cient and dreamy East. One of the great ambi- 
tions of life for every child of the mountain 
villages was a visit to Beirlit, and every visit to 
this Phoenician city made a second visit still more 
alluring. 

For Mulhim and me this visit to the enchanting 
city was not the first one. Both of us had been 
there a few times before. But the present occasion 
differed essentially from all the preceding ones. 
This time we were there in a representative 
capacity with more money to spend and with 
brighter hopes for the future than we ever pos- 
sessed before. The tumult of the metropolis, 
which we liked so well, no longer had in it the 
sad strain which told us that we were only tran- 
sient sojourners amidst the wonders of Beirut, 
which our scanty fortune might not enable us to 
[ 122 ] 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

hear and see again, at least for a long time to 
come. No! On that momentous morning every 
agreeable sound seemed to us only a foretaste of 
the joy of frequent visits to Beirut in that near 
future when the earth should have yielded to us 
its treasures of buried gold. 

Close to our hotel were several inns where 
camel-drivers and muleteers made their tempo- 
rary headquarters. Through the window from 
our room we could hear the pious language of 
those elemental men — the heirs and successors 
of countless generations of Oriental wayfarers — ' 
while loading and guiding their precious beasts 
to the main thorouglifare. The invocations of 
divine guidance for man and beast at the begin- 
ning of a journey, so characteristic of the children 
of that land, which has given the world its most 
precious Scriptures and greatest prophets, were 
uttered in deep, guttural tones — the low vibra- 
tions of the yet lax and untuned vocal chords of 
f 123 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

early risers. The Holy Name was invoked by its 
multitude of attributes, a wealth of celestial 
terms in which the Arabic language excels all 
others. Ya Qadir, ya Raheem, ya 'Ali, ya Razzaq, 
ya Waqi (O Almighty, O Most Merciful, O Most 
High, O Great Giver, O Protector) floated upon 
the morning air like incense. 

The thudding and shuffling steps of the camels, 
the firm, crunching treading of mules, the nim- 
ble trampling of little donkeys, the growling and 
barking of street dogs, and the rumbling now and 
then of a carriage, with the driver cracking his 
whip and calling to pedestrians, "Your back, 
your side, move out of my way," and like warn- 
ings, made a medley of sounds which only an 
Oriental city can produce. 

But to Mulhim and me the most compelling of 

all in the morning twilight of that eventful day 

was the shrill voice of the seller of sehleb sikhin 

rising above the din on the opposite corner of the 

[ 124 ] 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

street. Sehleb siJchin (a dish of wheat starch 
cooked in sugar with a httle milk and water and 
served hot) is considered in that part of the world 
a breakfast delicacy. The incessant calling of the 
purveyor, ''Sehleb sikhiriy ya je'an" (hot sehleb, 
O you hungry), stimulated our appetite. There- 
fore as the gray dawn began to steal over the city, 
we got up. Our morning toilet was rather simple. 
We put on our upper garments and shoes, which 
we had cast off when we crawled into our bed, 
dashed a little water over our faces, wiped them 
as much as we thought was expedient with the 
one small towel allotted us by the proprietor, put 
on our tarbooshes, and sought the sehleb man. 

Around his portable charcoal cooker, on which 
the sehleb kettle simmered, the Mohammedan 
seller of the sweet commodity had a few cane- or 
rather straw-seated stools and a trayful of the 
delicious Beirut bread. Ordinarily one of the 
small loaves and a saucerful of sehleb constitute 
[ 125 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA] 

one's breakfast. With us, however, money under 
the circumstances was no consideration. We had 
a double order each, and finally refused to take 
back a small amount of change from the seller of 
sehleb. We must have seemed to him to be aristo- 
crats traveling incognito. He was glad to have us 
remain with him until we finished smoking our 
cigarettes. He was even inclined, so far as his 
business permitted, to converse with us and ask 
all sorts of questions after the cordial manner of 
Orientals. To this, however, I felt somewhat 
averse. I was afraid that Mulhim might break 
forth again with his poetical description of the 
future and draw a word picture of his "blond 
Arabian steed." So at my instance we arose and 
took a stroll around Sahet-el-Bourge, which was 
becoming more intensely alive with all sorts of 
human beings streaming through it to their vari- 
ous places of business. We reviewed our plan and 
the manner of presenting it to the Mughreby, and 
[ 126 1 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

at the right time turned our faces toward El- 
Busta. 

It was a great relief when we reached the noto- 
rious Mohammedan quarter, to find that the 
cafes were as yet almost empty. The vicious loaf- 
ers had not yet come to their revels in the pub- 
lic places along the highway. Now and then we 
met a man who would eye us in stern and spiteful 
fashion, making our hearts beat faster than usual, 
but on the whole we were tranquil. 

It was by no means easy to find the abode of 
the witch in a city where there were no regularly 
laid-out streets and no numbers on the houses. 
All we knew was that she lived at El-Busta, and 
as we were anxious to avoid trouble, we dared not 
ask questions. At last, meeting an elderly man 
whom we thought reasonably safe, we requested 
him most respectfully to direct us to the witch's 
house. Pointing to a mosque not far away, he 
told us that the house we were seeking was a short 
[ 127 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

distance beyond that shrine, on the road that 
went to the right of it. Following those instruc- 
tions we soon reached our destination. 

After removing our shoes from our feet just 
outside the open door, we walked in, to find our- 
selves in the presence of the great Mughreby, the 
witch's associate. We stood near the door in a 
reverential attitude until we gained his attention, 
when we saluted him with more regard than dis- 
cretion. '^Essalamo ^Aleikum" (peace be on you) 
is a salutation exchanged by Mohammedans; but 
coming from a Christian to a Mohammedan it is 
considered by the latter very presumptuous. For 
how can an "infidel" confer peace upon one of 
the "faithful"? 

The Mughreby, possibly for business reasons, 
appeared not to notice the impropriety of the 
greeting. He responded by nodding his head 
slightly in a distressingly dignified manner, and 
motioned to us to sit down on the matted floor. 
[ 128 1 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

Lifting our right hands to our breasts, thence to 
our foreheads, as a mark of honor and gratitude, 
we sat down. 

The Mughreby was a man of stout build, and 
appeared to be about fifty years old. He wore on 
his head a rather small white turban, more com- 
mon among the Persian than among the Syrian 
Mohammedans. His face was round and ruddy, 
covered with a short, shaggy beard which en- 
hanced the witchery of his dark piercing eyes. 
Over his typical Mohammedan gown, which was 
girt at the waist with a green sash, he wore a fine 
woolen cloak. He sat on a thick cushion spread 
upon a costly rug of mystic figures and bright 
Oriental colors, and reclined against a messned 
(a hard and heavy pillow) which stood on edge 
against the wall. 

The witch, as we observed, was in an inner 
chamber, besieged by women suppliants, some 
seeking potions to make their husbands love 
[ 129 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

them, or to unhinge the mind of a woman rivaL 
some to secure the blessing of child-bearing, or to 
find some lost article, or ward off the evil eye. 
Sobs and groans issued from that mysterious 
chamber, and at short intervals the low, deep, 
commanding voice of the dread witch would 
reach our bewildered ears. 

Presently the Mughreby motioned to us to 
come closer, and as we did so he gazed on us 
in turn with the air of one who says, "The 
innermost secrets of your hearts are known to 
me." 

Within his reach on the cushion lay among 
other curious objects an egg, which he picked up, 
in a seemingly preoccupied state of mind, set it up 
on its small end in the center of his extended right 
palm, and seemed to us to read in it deep mys- 
teries. The feat of making the egg stand up in 
that manner excited our admiration. 

Then, with a faint, quizzical smile, the ally of 
[ 130 J 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

Beelzebub said to us, "What may your purpose 
be?" 

My heart beat at full speed. But unmindful of 
the fact that I was in the presence of one whose 
magical gaze had searched the depths of a thou- 
sand craniums, I proceeded to carry out our pre- 
arranged plan by giving him a false statement of 
our case. 

"Honored hajj'^ ^ said I, "on last Monday, 
while this my brother and I were working in the 
field, and in the absence of our mother from home, 
our house was entered by thieves who carried 
away from it money and other valuables to the 
amount of about two thousand 'piasters. Having 
failed hitherto to apprehend the robbers, we 
have come to you, O excellent hajj, imploring the 
aid of your great learning to enable us to know 
who the culprits are." 

* After having visited Mecca, a Mohammedan is addressed 
as /lajj-pilgrim. The designation, however, is often applied to 
other than pilgrims, as a mark of honor. 

[ 131 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

With a look of indignant surprise which caused 
his beard to quiver shghtly, and which seemed to 
say to me, "You saucy upstart!" and without 
the shghtest hesitancy, the great magician spoke. 

"You are a Har!" 

Rallying in a moment from this terrible, 
though merited, rebuke, I managed with consid- 
erable firmness to imitate the attitude of wounded 
pride and to say to my assailant, "O excellent 
hajj, I have not come imder your sheltering roof 
and in your august presence to be called a liar." 

"But such you are," came the quick answer; 
"you are seeking to possess yourself of the wealth 
of others, and yet you make bold to tell me that 
you have been robbed." 

Here Mulhim, collapsing inwardly, cast a 
trembling look at me and seemed about to say, 
"If you do not tell the truth at once, I will." 

Whereupon I said to the Mughreby, "My lord, 
if what I have said is to your mysterious learning 
[ 132 ] 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

not the truth, I beg you to condescend and tell us 
the facts." 

The magician then demanded the payment of 
one madjidy^ as the initial fee for the unsealing of 
the book — whatever that meant. We complied 
with the request instantly. Then, to our inde- 
scribable amazement, this man of diabolical 
learning told us everything. He informed us that 
we were in pursuit of a hidden treasure; that we 
had dug for it in a round hole, then in a cave con- 
nected with that hole and close to a smooth rock; 
that the spot was situated below a shrine and 
above running water. 

The expression on our faces must have pleased 
him immensely, for we felt for the moment that 
we were in the very presence of Omniscience. 

"In digging," he said again, "did you find 

human bones?" The way in which he put the 

question did not give us the impression that he 

did not know the answer; rather, in our simplic- 

[ 133 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

ity were we led to believe that a significant revela- 
tion was yet in store for us. To our answer in the 
aegative, he said, "When the bones appear, look 
confidently for the fortune you are seeking.'* 
Then, stroking his elevated right knee gently, the 
wily Mughrehy added, " But — but beware of the 
mysterious powers. The treasure is guarded by 
a powerful Russed with which I am already 
in touch, and the gold must first be * released' 
[from the control of the dread spirit] and the 
Riissed driven out into boundless space before 
the buried wealth can be touched. Be not rash, 
else you will be blasted, when no earthly power 
can help." 

Along with all this the Mughrehy bewildered us 
by mumbling something about "center and cir- 
cumference, light and darkness, east, west, north, 
south, fire and incense," all of which inspired us 
with awe, though it added nothing to our under- 
standing. 

[ 134 1 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

"What would be the cost of the 'release' of the 
Russed?" I asked in much agitation. 

"One othmani'' (Turkish pound); "no more, 
no less," replied the wizard. 

That was more than five madjidies beyond 
what we were commissioned to pay, even if we 
had had the money. 

"Your Excellency," said Mulhim, "this is a 
very high price." 

"High!" exclaimed the Mughreby. "Just be 
mindful of the wealth which the release of the 
Russed would bring to you ! " 

Feeling still inclined to mislead the "pos- 
sessed " man, I said, " My brother and I are poor, 
therefore we cannot pay such a sum; but we 
promise by the life of God that, if you will re- 
lease the Russed for us, we will pay you double 
this price after we find the treasure." 

Reaching for a small polished stick, and with 
it pushing my tarboosh back from my forehead, 
[ 1C5 J 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

the exasperated Mughrehy said, "This head of 
yours contains a devil. This youth [Mulhim] is 
not your brother; three other men and one woman 
are with you in this secret, and you have been 
instructed not to pay me my price. Try me no 
longer!" 

O great Mughrehy! Though he made a mistake 
in saying one woman, instead of two, we were 
convinced that the treasure was a certainty. 

After we had told the magician that it was 
necessary for us to return to our partners, report 
what he had told us, and secure the price of the 
** release," he said, "Yes, go, but you will come 
back soon; I have you in the hollow of my hand." 

We rose, walked backward to the door as be- 
hooved those retiring from the presence of an 
august Oriental personage, put on our shoes, 
bowed a reverent farewell, and departed. 

Certainly we did experience a psychological 
revolution. We seemed to ourselves to walk on 
I 136 ] 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

air and to talk by inspiration. We even forgot 
that we were in dangerous El-Busta. The pro- 
saic theory of "mind-reading" had not yet been 
advanced, at least in that part of the world, and 
the spell of a superhuman mind rested thick upon 
us. 

It was now about noon. We must have dinner 
and start for home without further delay. But 
should we make the homeward journey afoot? 
No; with such a bright future beckoning us there 
was no need for such privation. We would hire 
two good strong horses and ride home like 
gentlemen. 

Having ordered two "good" horses from a 
"horse-keeper" who promised to have them 
ready for us in about an hour, we went to a 
shou-wa (a meat-broiler) for our dinner. The 
shou-was shop was of the average sort. A few 
street dogs lingered at its door with the fixity of 
a trade sign. Portions of a sheep carcass hung 
f 137 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

from iron hooks suspended from the ceihng, just 
inside the door on the left as you came in. On the 
right side close by the wall stood the charcoal 
grates clouded with the smoke of broiling meat. 
A long, narrow, bare table stood near the wall 
facing the door, a bread-tray rested on a small 
square table in the neighborhood of the sus- 
pended mutton, and a small quantity of water- 
cress and parsley, with a few garlic heads and 
lemons, shared the small table with the bread- 
tray. 

We ordered a piece of the loin — the finest for 
broiling — bread and a large dish of parsley and 
watercress salad. Our Mohammedan shou-wa, a 
slim, narrow-faced, dim-visioned young man of 
medium height, with a greasy cigarette in his 
mouth, which further dimmed his vision, stripped 
the flesh from the bones with creditable dex- 
terity and proceeded to prepare it for us. He 
cut the chunk of loin in small pieces, at the 
[ 138 ] 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

same time guarding the fragments by delivering 
at long intervals well-aimed kicks at intruding 
street dogs who crept in instinctively and most 
unostentatiously, seeking whatever of the tan- 
talizing viands generous fortune might bring 
their way, strung the pieces upon thin, square 
iron rods, and placed them over the fire to broil. 
He accelerated the combustion by wielding over 
the fire a fan of crow's feathers. 

With equal dexterity he mashed a piece of 
garlic with a pinch of salt in a dish, squeezed 
lemon juice over the fragrant mixture, cut the 
parsley and watercress fine, poured them into 
the dish, mixed the compound energetically 
with his fingers, poured over it some olive oil and 
served it with the meat. 

Our dinner was perfect. Another guest came 

in while we were eating. While waiting for his 

order he engaged us in conversation, after the 

cordial Oriental manner. He happened to be a 

f 139 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

Lebanonian also. He wished to know what our 
business was in Beirut, and when we expected to 
"go up" — that is, to leave the city for the 
mountains. Mulhim's answer won my admi- 
ration. He no longer was so inclined to talk about 
his future "blond Arabian" to strangers. "We 
have a cousin," he answered our fellow Lebanon- 
ian, "at the Bishop's College here in the city. We 
have just had a visit with him and we are * going 
up* this afternoon." Mulhim redeemed him- 
self. 

After our sumptuous dinner, we mounted and 
proceeded on our way to Rasmola, accompanied 
by a lad who was to take the horses back to their 
owner. 

The road we followed — the Beirut-Damas- 
cus carriage road — until within about two 
and a half hours' journey from Rasmola, was 
fully two hours longer than the road we had 
traveled the day before, but it was better for the 
[ 140 ] 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

horses. At sundown we found ourselves at the 
then famous inn called Khan-Abu-Dekham, 
where we halted for supper, and to rest and feed 
the horses. Not wishing to reveal our actual cir- 
cumstances, and still relying upon our opulent 
future, we ordered liberally, taking even a 
draught of wine with the repast, and the inn- 
keeper was much impressed by our liberality and 
charged us accordingly. 

It soon grew dark. Large black clouds over- 
spread the heavens, and a rather strong wind 
began to blow. But we had never been in better 
spirits. Horses, youth, wine, and the deceitful- 
ness of riches filled us with power and courage. 
We remounted our horses and rode off singing 
(with more enthusiasm than melody) vernacular 
Arabic poetry. 

Soon after we left the carriage road, near the 
town of Behamdun, and turned south toward 
our destination, our boy attendant rushed close 
[ 141 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

to my horse shouting, "Master, I am afraid! Do 
you hear that noise?" 

Halting a moment I could hear a tremendous 
rushing sound approaching. My first impulse 
was to lift the frightened boy on the back of the 
horse behind me. No sooner did I do that than 
a terrific hailstorm smote horse and rider, mas- 
ter and servant. It seemed that the celestial 
"treasures of the hail" were poured out to the 
last handful. The horses reared and twisted, now 
to the right, now to the left, in dangerous con- 
fusion. The driving wind and the incessant down- 
pour rendered us almost helpless. The few flicker- 
ing lights in the town of Behamdun were the only 
things we could see, and we pressed toward them. 

We certainly were a wretched spectacle when 
we reached the village. Wilted and cowed by 
the raging elements, both men and horses were 
pitiable objects. Outside the large cities inns and 
lodging-houses are rarely found in Syrian com- 
[ 142 ] 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

munlties. This was especially true at the time 
of our story. The wayfarer depended on the 
hospitality of private homes, which as a rule 
was freely extended. 

On that night, however, we halted in front of 
a dikJcan (small store) which was still open and 
whose owner was known to me as a friend of my 
father's. At least I thought he was. To him we 
applied for shelter for the night. Appalled by our 
condition, the dilcJcanje, contrary to the age-old 
Syrian code of hospitality, denied our urgent re- 
quest. We felt almost crushed. We explained to 
this "friend" of my father's that we would stay 
with him only for a few hours, until we had dried 
our garments and warmed ourselves, but the 
case was hopeless. He pleaded that his wife was 
sick, which, however, as we subsequently learned, 
was not true. Finally we persuaded him to keep 
the boy overnight, promising to come for him 
the next day and to pay for his keep. 
[ 143 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

The denial to us of hospitality in this manner 
awakened in Mulhim and me a spirit of heroism 
and disdain. We began to feel that we would not 
accept shelter under the conditions, even if it 
were offered to us. We would brave the elements 
and the night like men. So we bought from the 
man some kaak (Damascus whole-wheat, hard 
crackers) and, at his suggestion, a small bottle 
of 'arak "for a night like this," all of which I put 
in my saddlebag, and resumed our journey. We 
led our horses a short distance, in order to limber 
up our stiffened legs and quicken the blood cur- 
rents in our chilled bodies. At the outskirts of the 
village we remounted. As I put my foot in the stir- 
rup and lifted myself into the saddle, the bottle of 
^arak, which apparently in the darkness I had in- 
serted between the saddle and the saddlebag, fell 
and broke to pieces. "Oh!" we shouted. The loss 
of the quickening fluid seemed under the hard cir- 
cumstances like the vanishing of a great hope. 
[ 144 ] 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

We pressed on. Rasmola was yet more than 
two hours away, the storm was still on and the 
darkness palpable. The road passed through my 
home town, but as my parents were still com- 
pletely ignorant of the treasure adventure, and 
as I had planned to bring my share of the gold 
to them as a stunning surprise, we did not stop 
at our house on that night. 

When we arrived, our partners at Rasmola 
were still up, eagerly awaiting us. We delivered 
our report to them in most glowing colors, for the 
purpose at least of justifying the extravagant 
expenditure of money on our trip. They stood 
aghast at the marvelous revelation of the Miigh- 
rehy's diabolical knowledge. The women crossed 
themselves — especially when we mentioned the 
fact that the magician read deep mysteries in 
an ordinary Qgg — and implored the Divine pro- 
tection. 

"And he told you all that!" spoke Abu-Nasif, 
I 145 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

nodding his head in great wonderment. "What 
is there that those magicians do not know?" 

"He mentioned the round hole, smooth rock, 
convent, fountain, and all?" queried Abu- 
Rostum. 

"All in a twinkling of an eye," we answered 
with enthusiasm and gratification. 

"Satan must be used to fight Satan," added 
Abu-Rostum. "We must have the potion." 

"But are we," asked Abu-Nasif's wife, "to 
deal with those dread spirits ourselves? O Allah, 
cast them off! My misery!" {ya dhillyl) 

" If we deal with them — the accursed things!" 
observed Abu-Rostum, with soothing consider- 
ation for the mother's feelings — "if we deal 
with them according to the Mughreby's directions 
there will be no danger. Did he say to you how 
we should do?" he asked me. 

"No," I answered. "He said he would give us 
the directions with the potion." 
[ 146 ] 



THE GREAT MUGHREBY 

"The wretch must know," said Abu-Nasif, 
"that there is a treasure in the cave. From what 
he told the boys he seems to know everything. 
We must have the potion. The price is small 
compared with what we shall find." 



•^:^s%^^4^^' 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE POTION 
It was unanimously agreed that 'Assaf, instead 
of Mulhim, should return with me to Beirut 
early on the morrow, purchase the "release" 
from the Mughrehy on the best possible terms, 
learn the exact location of the treasure, and re- 
turn at once. Notwithstanding the bewitching 
[ 148 ] 



THE POTION 

dream of great riches, the sense of economy still 
had its strong hold on Abu-Nasif . Our allowance, 
besides the Turkish pound for the Mughreby, 
was much smaller than that granted on the pre- 
vious trip, and we were instructed to return afoot. 

In order to avoid arousing the suspicion of the 
townspeople we slipped out of Rasmola at early 
dawn. Reaching Behamdun we picked up our 
boy attendant and proceeded to Beirut with all 
speed, and very shortly after our arrival in the 
city called at the Mughreby's house. With a 
strangely peculiar smile whose meaning I did not 
understand then as I do now, the magician re- 
marked, "I do not marvel" (la aajab) "at your 
return." 

The various kinds of Russeds are "released" 
by different means: some by the sprinkling of 
enchanted water, others by the burning of in- 
cense, others by the repeating of certain mystic 
words. "Our" Russed required a powerful dose 
I 149 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

of strong incense, which the Mughrehy proceeded 
to prepare for us. 

From a bag which contained many strange 
things, he produced a piece of frankincense about 
the size of a hazel-nut, which, as I remember, 
looked Hke spruce-gum. He placed it in the hol- 
low of his hand, looked up, turned his face to the 
right, then to the left, then in a semi-entranced 
manner seemed to repeat, inaudibly, a certain 
formula. After repeating the entire performance 
three times, he breathed on the lump, wrapped 
it in a piece of white muslin, and then said, pre- 
sumably to himself alone, '' Qatih-madhy ! ^^ (de- 
cisive !) 

In the meantime we had become rigid with 
awe, but were restored to normal tranquillity by 
his saying to us, "Now you are safe; wealth and 
happiness will soon be yours." 

I received the mysterious object from his 
hand, paid him the price he had asked, and placed 
[ 150 ] 



THE POTION 

the lump securely in my girdle. We were in- 
structed to burn the incense inside the cave in 
the presence of all the men of our party, and to 
dig within two cubits from the smooth rock to- 
ward the center of the cave. 

After leaving the presence of the Mughreby, 
though it was far past the noon hour, 'Assaf and 
I did not halt in Beirut even long enough to have 
dinner: we bought some food and ate it while on 
the march. The darkness of the night overtook 
us when about halfway to our destination. Our 
steps grew heavier and heavier as we toiled on 
up the western slopes of Lebanon. Owing to the 
fact that I had had but little sleep, and had been 
on a forced march for practically forty-eight 
hours, my physical energy reached a very low ebb. 

'Assaf, whose vocation was that of a silk- 
spinner, was even less accustomed to physical 
exertion tlian I was; therefore he also began to 
feel much more strongly inclined to drop by the 
[ 151 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

wayside and go to sleep, than to continue the 
toilsome journey. As we reached the neighbor- 
hood of the town of Alieh, we saw a faint, iflicker- 
ing light in the direction of an old, little-fre- 
quented inn called Khan-el-Sheikli. The slight 
ray seemed to our weary souls so friendly, so 
compelling, that we concluded to replenish our 
stores of energy by seeking a few hours of sleep 
at the old inn. 

As we passed under the heavy stone arch into 
the huge room where the hhanati and his wife 
were, it seemed to me the most desolate, most 
fearfully haunted place on this planet. When we 
asked the burly, stolid hhanati if we could have 
a "sleeping-place in his hospitable klian, until 
the rising of the morning star," he cast a measur- 
ing look at us which really frightened me; he 
then muttered a favorable answer, and after 
puflfing a few times at his cigarette in a gloomily 
meditative mood, he led us into a repelling en- 
[ 152 1 



THE POTION 

closure (he called it a room), threw a dilapidated 
straw mat on the humpy, earthen floor for our 
bed, and gave us an old blanket of goat's hair to 
"cover us with." That was indeed the "abomi- 
nation of desolation," but we decided to stretch 
our weary mortal bodies on what was left of that 
mat, for at least a couple of hours, and then con- 
tinue our journey. But as soon as the khanati 
left us with his lantern (the only means of il- 
lumination he had) and we lay quiet between the 
mat and the blanket, our sleeping-quarters be- 
came strangely alive. Living creatures leaped 
from the cavernous stone walls and sprang from 
holes in the floor, even right under our mat, in 
ferocious gayety. 

"Rats!" exclaimed 'Assaf. "One jumped on 
my tarboosh! They will eat us up." 

"They certainly will do it," I said. And we 
decided that we would not be devoured by the 
rats on the eve of becoming millionaires; so we 
[ 153 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

shook off the goat's-hair blanket and darted out 
of the room Uke frightened steeds. When we told 
our host that we could not stay with him over- 
night he simply frowned at us and said, ''Ruhol '* 
(Go!) 

We did go, but it was terribly hard going. 
Darkness, hunger, fatigue, fear, and the rough, 
stony road made the walking horrid toil. A short 
distance east of the town of Alieh there lies a 
deep, rocky gorge, through which runs a small 
river called Bekliishtieh, at whose banks we 
feared the djinn might accost us, for the streams 
of water were the favorite haunts of those dread 
spirits. But on that night none of them were out, 
and we crossed the stream in safety. Before us as 
we stood on the eastern bank of the river towered 
the last chain of hills which we had to cross be- 
fore our road took its downward course toward 
Rasmola. Before beginning our weary climb we 
sat for a little rest on a rock not far from the 
[ 154 ] 



THE POTION 

stream, in a world of darkness and silence. Pres- 
ently we heard a jump, followed by a crashing 
tread among the fig-trees near the road. A hy- 
ena! We had been taught that the joints of the 
hyena squeaked as he walked, and certainly we 
could hear the "squeaking" and, as it seemed, 
see the faint outlines of the horrid form. 

Without a word or even a whisper, and as by 
a power not our own, we sprang from our seats 
on the rock and dashed up the steep hill. Whether 
in a dream or in reality, whether we followed the 
road or not, how many times we stumbled and 
fell and rose again, I never could tell. I only know 
that when we spoke to one another again we 
were just below the crest of the hill on its eastern 
slope, speeding toward Rasmola, with my hand on 
the lump of frankincense in my girdle. It was past 
midnight when, with soiled and torn garments, 
bruised and exhausted, we reached our destina- 
tion. Not until late in the afternoon of that day 
[ 155 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

were we awakened and asked to give our re- 
port. 

The mysterious frankincense — the "release" 
— and the simple instruction as to how to burn 
it in the cave were the alpha and the omega of 
our report. Indeed, nothing more was needed. 
Very early on the morrow the five men of our 
party (the women would not participate in the 
Satanic performance) proceeded to the cave. 
Around a small charcoal fire we stood in a circle 
near the smooth rock, and as our venerable senior, 
Abu-Nasif , crossed himself and cast the potent 
incense into the fire, we all made the sign of the 
holy cross and said, "God cast thee off!" 

As the smoke of the sizzling, gummy sub- 
stance spread through the cave, Abu-Rostum 
asserted that he heard a mysterious moaning 
just inside the door. Was it not from the van- 
quished Russed ? At any rate the cave appeared 
to us to have suddenly become friendly, almost 
[ 156 ] 



THE POTION 

habitable, and with the strength and courage 
which confidence never fails to inspire, we pro- 
ceeded to dig at the point indicated by the 
Mughrehy — within two cubits from the smooth 
rock, toward the center of the cave. 

By taking turns we toiled strenuously the 
whole day; we changed the location slightly from 
time to time, packing the dirt in the remote 
corners; we found an abundance of mortar and 
broken pottery, but no gold. Not even bones. At 
the end of the day, disappointed and exhausted, 
we returned to Abu-Nasif's fireside for a final 
conference. 

The seeming failure of all signs began to sober 
the enthusiasm and awaken the prudence of the 
older members of the party. Abu-Rostum, who 
had a large family to support, and no source of 
revenue but his trade, began to waver. The 
dream of riches began to fade before the glowing 
satisfaction of actual, though modest, wages, the 
f 157 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

loss of which he could not endure much longer. 
Abu-Nasif , the determining factor in our counsel, 
also seemed to be greatly perplexed. In a gravely 
meditative manner he stated that, while he had 
not lost all hope of finding "something" in the 
mysterious cave, he was becoming increasingly 
aware of the very serious risk he was running. 
"While we possessed nothing but our tools, he had 
his valuable property, which might be seized by 
the Government authorities, if our secret became 
known. He said also that his slow progress in 
building had already been noticed by some of his 
friends, and that the aged abbot of Saint Elias's 
convent had asked him why so little was doing 
under the large fig-tree. 

Abu-Nasif 's final decision was that we suspend 
our search for the treasure for the time being and 
proceed with the building. As long as the treasure 
bad been "released," he thought we could dig 
for it at our convenience without inviting sus- 
I 158 1 



THE POTION 

picion. Any other suggestion he would not coun- 
tenance. Abu-Rostum and Mulhim seconded 
the projected plan, but 'Assaf and I dissented. 
Being in the minority and aware of Abu-Nasif 's 
immovableness, we did not argue long; we sim- 
ply whispered to each other that we would not 
suspend the digging. 




S»lu£ir.CO«C«( 



CHAPTER IX 
PARIS AND THE TREASURE 
It was purely the exigency of the hour which 
forced me into this dual alliance. ' Assaf was by no 
means my favorite of the company. He was a 
"busybody in other men's matters," very insig- 
nificant in stature, of meager features, and had 
the lamentable habit of coming uncomfortably 
close to you when he spoke. In short, 'Assaf was 
such a type of man that, looking at him, a Soc- 
rates would have wondered whether great riches 
could really work beneficent changes in him. 
Ours was by no means a light task. By detach- 
[ 160] 



PARIS AND THE TREASURE 

ing ourselves from the rest of the treasure-seekers 
and deciding to undertake the digging by our- 
selves, we faced a problem altogether too com- 
plex for our minds and our facilities to solve. The 
range of our freedom was greatly narrowed. It 
became essential for us to guard the secret of our 
enterprise not only from our neighbors and 
Government officials, but from our own former 
partners and members of our own household. We 
were obliged to work and live with them. Could 
it, therefore, be possible for us to elude their sus- 
picions and observations of our treacherous 
activities? 

On the following morning we went to work 
with our kinsmen, but had no opportunity to con- 
sider together a plan of action unobserved. We 
agreed, however, that after supper we would go 
out ostensibly for a sehra (to spend the evening 
with some friends), seek some secluded spot, and 
form a plan of action. Nothing had yet occurred 
[ 161 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

to lead the rest of the company in the sHghtest 
degree to suspect our movements. They only 
knew that we did not approve the idea of post- 
poning the digging for the treasure so indefinitely 
as they had decided to do. 

So after supper and in order completely to mis- 
lead his father and the rest, my little accomplice, 
'Assaf, arose and went to a small cupboard, 
which held divers kinds of household articles, in 
search of something. Then turning to his brother, 
Mulhim, he asked: 

"Brother, where is that pack of cards we have? 
Abraham has been here for all this time and we 
have not taken him anywhere to a sehra. I want 
to take him out to-night and I would like to take 
the pack of cards with me." 

"It is under the clothes chest,'* answered 
Mulhim. "Where are you going?" 

" We are going where there is a good sehra,'' said 
'Assaf. "I don't know yet where that will be." 
[ 162 ] 



PARIS AND THE TREASURE 

"Don't you want me to go with you?" asked 
Mulhim again. 

"No, not to-night." 

Mulhim knew his brother's peculiarities very 
well, so he said no more. 

Upon going out of the house, 'Assaf said to me, 
"Follow me; we will go to the church of Saint 
John. It stands alone and there is a large oak-tree 
in front of it." To the Church of Saint John we 
proceeded with our burdensome secret. In front 
of that shrine stood a mighty ancient oak, a glo- 
rious specimen of those giant trees which have 
shaded the approaches to the sanctuaries of the 
East from before the days of the patriarch Abra- 
ham. A short distance from the ground, the huge 
trunk divided into three massive parts in such a 
way as to form a large recess of gentle slopes, into 
which the children climbed in their frolics. 

In the deep and awesome darkness, we climbed 
into the body of that living but mute sentinel of 
[ 163 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

the holy place and proceeded in trembling whis- 
pers to discuss our grave problem. 

"If my father," began 'Assaf, "should know 
of this he would chase me from under the heav- 
ens. Yes, he would; I know Abu-Nasif." 

In genuine, youthful, dramatic fashion, I spoke 
at once. 

" By the life of Saint John and the lives of all 
those I hold dear, your father, 'Assaf, shall never 
know of this matter from me. I pledge you my 
blood to the last drop." 

"And I say to you," reciprocated 'Assaf, with 
his hand stretched toward the church door, "by 
this holy Saint before whom we are, I will keep 
your secret even from my father and mother. 
Should my father know in some way — God for- 
bid ! — of this secret, I covenant with you now 
before God and Saint John that I will stand by 
you and if need be against my father. I only want 
you to know that I am speaking to you from a 
[ 164 ] 



FARIS AND THE TREASURE 

loyal and pure heart. Ah, if you only knew how 
my heart feels just now — if you only knew!'' 

*'I am sure of all that," said I, "my heart feels 
it; we will stand together whatever happens." 

It was a veritable David and Jonathan feast 
of youtliful emotions; although our feelings which 
induced such solemn vows were impromptu, the 
vows themselves were no less ardent than those 
of our fellow countrymen of Biblical fame. For 
the moment, 'Assaf became to me an acceptable 
person. 

"We want," resumed my new intimate, "to 
know how to dig — see! who comes there? Two 
women with a lamp!" 

On the right-hand side of the church building 
as you faced the door, hard-by the back corner of 
the edifice, was an old tomb of some righteous 
person known to former generations. It was a 
low vault which had three small openings in the 
front wall grouped in the shape of a triangle. 
I 165 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

The dead but ever-living personage, whose body- 
reposed in that consecrated sepulcher, was 
known to have intercessory powers. In times of 
sorrow and affliction, devout persons came with 
ohve-oil lamps and placed them in those open- 
ings of the vault as humble offerings of light, 
which were believed to move the Saint to inter- 
cede for the suppliants with the Most High. 

The two women, whose approach had so sol- 
emnly interrupted our deliberations, were on 
such an errand of mercy. They had come to plead 
for some needy soul. Trustfully they approached 
the hallowed tomb, while we watched them with 
reverential silence, broken for us only by the 
violent beating of our hearts; placed the little 
lamp tenderly in one of the openings, knelt be- 
fore it for a few moments in silent prayer, and 
departed. 

'Assaf fumbled in his brain for the thread of 
thought which he had started out to spin before 
[166] 



PARIS AND THE TREASURE 

the feminine pilgrims of the night disturbed our 
seclusion. In spite of the small dimensions of his 
brain the thought got lost in it. 

" You were going to say something about dig- 
ging," I said by way of a reminder. 

"Yes; we want to know how to dig for the 
treasure without being discovered by my father 
and the rest," he resumed. 

"Of course," I said; "that is the whole prob- 
lem." 

But in reality that was not the whole problem. 
Even if we succeeded in carrying on the digging 
secretly, physically the task was beyond our 
powers. The work would have to be done in the 
night; the newly dug dirt would have to be 
packed in the farther corners of the cave; one of 
us would have to act as a sentinel while the other 
worked, etc. How could we, two youths, do all 
that? 'Assaf depended on me to work out the 
engineering plan, but the working-out of the plan 
[ 167 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

did not mean the successful accomplishment of 
the actual, practical task. 

Driven to our extremity, we finally decided to 
reveal the secret of the treasure to a man named 
Faris, with whom we had a very pleasant ac- 
quaintance. Paris was the bully of the town, and, 
externally speaking, a magnificent specimen of 
manhood. But he was a dangerous idler, sus- 
pected of many crimes, and living the life of a 
defiant outlaw. However, it was just such a 
fearless man that we wanted in our perilous 
undertaking; therefore to Faris would we unfold 
our story. 

"It is early yet," said 'Assaf; "let us go to 
Faris's house." 

We left the sacred oak and wended our way 
in the dark footpaths of the town to the adven- 
turer's house. We arrived just as a guest of his, 
a man of his own type, was departing. "Every- 
thing will come our way in time," we heard the 
[ 168 ] 



PARIS AND THE TREASURE 

stalwart departing pal say to Faris as we ap- 
proached the door. "We will make things come 
our way, friend," answered Faris; "go in the 
keeping of God until we meet again in the land 
of the East." 

*'Marhaba, marhahaT' (a cordial "Hallo!") 
said Faris to us as we came in; "two young 
lions! Come in and sit down." 

"Who is the hero" (buttal) "you have just 
bade good-bye?" we asked with eager interest. 

"Habib Faisal of Kermoosha," answered Faris 
exultingly. 

"Is this the famous Habib Faisal.^^" we asked. 

"Yes," said our hero, "this is the fearless 
Habib who has been the despair of the authorities 
for years. He is going East now and I expect to 
follow him by spring, and there " — added Faris 
with a smile — " we expect to work for our living." 

"You seem to be alone to-night," said 'Assaf. 

"I have been alone in the house this day," 
[ 169 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

said Faris. "My mother and brother went this 
morning to visit my aunt at Halazoon. Still," 
said the giant with another sweet smile, "I am 
not afraid to stay alone — in the daytime." 

His being alone suited our purpose perfectly. 

"Smoke, boys," he invited us, pushing the 
tobacco-plate in our direction. "Roll cigarettes; 
a good smoke drives away Satan." 

We did smoke, and while smoking unfolded 
to him our marvelous story. It electrified him. 
"What is there to fear?" was his ominous re- 
mark. " Neither angels nor devils can prevent us 
horn finding the treasure." 

His words were music to our ears; here was a 
man who did not believe in digging for a treasure 
on the installment plan. 

"Do you know, boys," resumed our host with 
a deep sigh, "for some time I have had the pre- 
sentiment that God was going to bring things my 
way. You know how it is when a thought of this 
[ 170 ] 



PARIS AND THE TREASURE 

kind takes hold of your mind. It has seemed to 
me for some time that I was going to get rich, 
but did not know how that was going to come 
true. I have had in the course of a year two 
chances which seemed good, but failed. I will tell 
you about them if you will not tell anybody 
else." 

"By all the Saints!" we exclaimed, "none will 
know your secret from us." 

"Good fellows!" said Faris. "The story, 
briefly speaking, is this: About a year ago I was 
approached by a skillful worker in metals to join 
him in the work of imitating coin. He said he 
was able to counterfeit money so that it could 
not be distinguished from real money by the 
Sultan himself. We figured that in the course of 
two years we should be rich. He wanted my pro- 
tection and help in disposing of the coin among 
the sheep and wheat merchants in the far regions 
of the East where they don't know much about 
[ 171 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

such matters. We made our plans and were about 
ready to proceed when my partner — oh, what a 
donkey he was — gave the secret to his mother. 
You know women, especially when they as- 
semble at the fountain. She could not keep the 
matter to herself, and her son had to flee to 
Alexandria before the authorities knew about 
our scheme." 

"What a crazy fellow that was!" we chimed 
in. 

"The second chance," continued Faris, "was 
of a different kind. The adventure was more in 
my line than was the counterfeiting of money. 
Habib Faisal — the man who has just gone — 
and I, were told that a man in the town of 
Q'atra had a small chest solidly packed with 
gold coin. The chest was described to us as being 
of Damascus make — it was made of inlaid apri- 
cot wood — and we were told exactly where the 
man had it in his house. So we agreed to go to 
[ 172 ] 



FARIS AND THE TREASURE 

Q'atra on Easter night. The man, who had only 
his wife, and no children, would go to the mid- 
night Mass, whereupon we would break into the 
house and secure the chest. But that plan failed 
also. The man's wife got very sick at that time, 
so upon our arrival at Q'atra we found many 
people at the house, and we came back empty- 
handed. More than that, while fording the river 
on our way back, I dropped one of my fine pistols 
and lost it in the stream. But now I feel that my 
dream of riches, and your dream, boys, will soon 
be reahzed." 

The fact that our home traditions stood at 
variance with Faris's intentions and experiences 
did not at that critical moment prove strong 
enough to make us shrink from joining him in 
the task which was before us. We also shared 
that deep human instinct of hero-worship, re- 
gardless of moral distinctions. We would dig for 
the treasure together. 

[ 173 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

On the night we had chosen to dig for the 
treasure under the new management, the rain 
fell in torrents, which seemed to us a pro- 
vidential favor. Upon reaching the vineyard 
of Saint Elias on our way to the cave, the 
enigmatic Faris crossed himself, bent his mas- 
sive frame and kissed the terrace wall. We imi- 
tated his pious act. "They help," he said to us 
in a muffled tone. That was what we always 
believed. 

Upon entering the cave our new accomplice 
made a quick survey of the spot, by the dim light 
of a tallow candle, and then in a seemingly ab- 
stracted manner removed the heavy cloak in 
which he was wrapped. I shall never forget that 
moment. With his high leathern gaiters, short 
shirwal (bloomer-like trousers), a pair of pistols 
buckled at his waist, a handsome belt-knife held 
within his girdle, a yatehan (short sword with a 
concave edge) dangling from his shoulder, and 
[ 174 ] 



PARIS AND THE TREASURE 

a felt cap with a small silk turban on his head, 
Faris towered before us in the ghastly light of 
that subterranean cavern like a mythical giant. 
It seemed to me that the Russed himself could 
not be more formidable than Faris. "What could 
we do with this man," I asked myself, "if we 
found the treasure and he decided to take the 
whole of it.f^" Our very lives were in his hands. 
He removed the weapons from his person, placed 
them with the cloak in a corner of the cave, and 
proposed that we proceed to dig hard-by the 
smooth rock. 

Our exertion on that memorable night in the 
damp, stuffy atmosphere of the mysterious cave 
approached suicide. We streamed with perspi- 
ration and burned with thirst; we toiled inces- 
santly until past midnight, expecting every 
moment that the pickaxe would crash through 
the pot of gold; but all was in vain. Our 
supply of tallow candles being very limited, we 
[ 175 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

did not dare waste much time in resting. When 
the hope of success seemed all but gone, we 
decided to take one more turn each at the 
digging before we abandoned our quest. So I 
jumped into the deep hole we had already dug, 
and before I had worked ten minutes the pick- 
axe brought to the surface several apparently 
human bones. Surely the treasure was near at 
hand. Had not the Mughreby told us "when the 
bones appeared to look confidently for the for- 
tune".? 

No sooner did I say "bones!" than Faris 
jumped into the hole, threw me out, and said, 
"It is my turn to dig!" 

"It is my turn," said 'Assaf timidly. 

"Stay where you are," retorted Faris. "I will 
see to it that each one of us has his share of the 
gold." 

Fearful and helpless, 'Assaf and I instinctively 
went and sat close by the weapons. Should it 
[ 176 1 



PARIS AND THE TREASURE 

become necessary we would, in self-defense, try 
to turn the giant's arms against him. 

Faris tore the ground up like a steam shovel, 
while his eyes searched every new shovelful of 
dirt with microscopic keenness. Suddenly he 
stopped, and leaning against the rock gazed 
interestedly into the hole. "We will dig no more 
to-night," he murmured, as he threw out the 
tools; "let us go home." 

"Let me work my turn," said 'Assaf. 

But for some mysterious reason Faris was de- 
termined that we should dig no more on that 
night, and 'Assaf and I could do nothing but 
yield to his wishes. 

Of course it was not to be expected that our 
treachery could long be hidden from our former 
partners. On that very night, when 'Assaf re- 
turned home in the small hours and stole into 
bed in the living-room where all the family slept, 
his father became suspicious of his behavior. 
[ 177 ] 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

When the family arose in the morning, 'Assaf s 
soiled clothes and the weariness which he could 
not disguise told the story. 

Upon this Abu-Nasif started for the cave in 
grim silence. Wliat he saw there lashed him 
into fury. To be so betrayed by his own son was 
more than he could bear. 'Assaf must confess all, 
or be cast out of his father's house and sur- 
rendered to the authorities. 

'Assaf did make a clean breast of it and asked 
his enraged father's forgiveness. But Abu-Nasif 
appeared determined to place Faris and me in 
the hands of the Turkish officials. Badly fright- 
ened, I lost no time in seeking Faris and telling 
him of the impending danger. The desperado's 
eyes flashed fire as he said, "I will manage Abu- 
Nasif in a short time." 

Later that night Abu-Nasif, responding to a 
knock, opened his door and found Faris standing 
outside, armed to the teeth. In a few words and 
[ 178 ] 



PARIS AND THE TREASURE 

in the manner of the men of his class, the giant 
told Abu-Nasif that if he made the matter known 
to the authorities, his whole family would be 
exterminated. 

Two days later, encouraged by the temporary 
peace which Abu-Nasif felt forced to patch up 
with us, 'Assaf and I visited the cave. In the 
neighborhood of the spot at which Faris had 
gazed so interestedly when he had ordered us to 
cease digging and go home, three days before, 
we found large pieces of pottery scattered around 
a small hole where a jar might have been placed. 
Startled, we sought Faris, but he was nowhere 
to be found. 

Did Faris find the treasure .^^ There was no one 
who could tell. It was five years later when, 
through a wheat merchant, I next heard of him. 
He was then in the fertile region southeast of 
Damascus, where my informant found him in an 
opulent state, having supervision of large tracts 
[ 179 1 



HIDDEN TREASURE OF RASMOLA 

of land. Whether Paris owned all that land or 
not, the wheat merchant did not know, but to all 
appearances he did, for he practiced the hos- 
pitality of an Arab emir and spent most lavishly. 
Not long after that I emigrated to America. But 
while on a visit to Syria, a few years later, I was 
very curious to know what had become of my 
friend Paris, and if possible to penetrate in some 
way the mystery of the treasure. 

Abu-Nasif had long been gathered to his 
fathers. Paris, I was told, returned to Rasmola, 
two years before my visit, stricken with a fatal 
illness. He willed the small house and few mul- 
berry-trees that he had inherited from his father 
to the convent of Saint Elias. When he felt the 
great Destroyer approaching, he called for the 
parish priest, to whom he unburdened his soul in 
confession, a duty which he had neglected for 
many years. Those who kept the last vigil around 
his bed reported that in his delirious wanderings 
[ 180] 



PARIS AND THE TREASURE 

just before he breathed his last he twice uttered 
the name of Abu-Nasif . 

Thus went Faris the way of all flesh, and the 
real secret of the treasure remained known only 
to him, and possibly to his confessor. 



\s25i»C;SMf 




CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
U . S . A 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

liliillllllill 

018 407 513 1 




